1 


A 


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BELGIUM 


By 

DEMETRIUS  C.  BOULGER 


Published    for   the 

BAY    VIEW    READING    CLUB 

CENTRAL  OFFICE.  BOSTON  BOULEVARD 

DETROIT,  MICH. 

1913 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 
The  Two  Races  of  Belgium 7 

CHAPTER  II 
The  Evolution  of  Belgium 22 

CHAPTER  III 
The  Story  of  Brussels 35 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  Story  of  Antwerp 58 

CHAPTER  V 
The  Story  of  Bruges  and  Ghent 69 

CHAPTER  VI 
The  Story  of  Liege 81 

CHAPTER  VII 
The  Belgian  Constitution 91 

CHAPTER  VIII 
Party  Politics  in  Belgium * 104 

CHAPTER  IX 
The  Army 122 

CHAPTER  X 
Population  and  Social  Matters 136 

CHAPTER  XI 
The  Court  and  Society 143 

CHAPTER  XII 
Burgher  Life  in  Brussels 154 

CHAPTER  XIII 
The  Miners  of  the  Borinage 165 

5 


5M  AQJ  O 


6  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XIV 
The  Manufacturing  Centers 177 

CHAPTER  XV 
Country  Life  in  Belgium 192 

CHAPTER  XVI 
Religion  and  Educational  Aspects 206 

CHAPTER  XVII 
The  Administration  of  Justice 223 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
Commerce  and  Industry 233 

CHAPTER  XIX 
Literature  and  Journalism 239 

CHAPTER  XX 
Music,  Art,  and  the  Drama 251 

CHAPTER  XXI 
Kermesses,  Fetes,  and  Legends 260 

CHAPTER  XXII 
Sports,  Old  and  New 273 

CHAPTER  XXIII 
Characteristics  and  Customs 283 

CHAPTER  XXIV 
Waterways  and  Railways 297 

CHAPTER  XXV 
The  Colonial  Question 310 

CHAPTER  XXVI 
Conclusion   328 


Belgium 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  TWO   RACES  OF   BELGIUM 

THE  most  striking  fact  in  the  national  life  of  mod- 
ern Belgium  is  that  two  distinct  races,  in  blood 
and  in  language,  form  there  a  single  community  and 
even  a  united  people.  In  Austria-Hungary  there  are 
many  races  and  many  tongues,  but  in  Belgium  there 
are  only  two,  and  as  they  almost  balance  each  other  in 
strength  and  influence,  the  harmony  that  exists  be- 
tween them  is  more  remarkable.  These  two  races  are 
the  Walloons  and  the  Flemings.  The  connecting  bond 
between  them  is,  no  doubt,  the  close  political  associa- 
tion that  has  kept  the  Walloons  and  Flemings  under 
the  same  administration,  since  the  first  union  of  the 
State  in  the  fifteenth  century  by  Philip  the  Good,  of 
the  House  of  Burgundy.  The  fact  that  the  two  races 
have  shared  a  common  political  destiny  under  foreign 
and  native  rulers  during  more  than  four  hundred  fifty 
years  has  removed  many  natural  causes  of  friction 
between  them,  and  has  created  some  definite  belief  in 
their  joint  and  identical  interest.     It  is  a  fact  which 


8  BELGIUM 

cannot  be  explained  away,  that  Fleming's  and  Wal- 
loons have  never  in  the  long  course  of  their  combined 
history,  which  commenced  with  the  close  of  feudal- 
ism, engaged  in  a  racial  war,  and  this  absence  of  strife 
has  left  an  abiding  impression  on  their  relations.  The 
strongest  link,  however,  in  the  chain  that  connects  the 
two  peoples  of  the  South  Netherlands  is  provided  by 
identity  of  religion;  so  that  the  most  fruitful  cause  of 
all  human  differences  and  quarrels  has  never  arisen  to 
create  a  feud  between  Walloons  and  Flemings.  There 
is  consequently  every  reason  to  conclude  that  the  two 
races,  which  in  the  past  never  came  into  hostile  colli- 
sion, are  now  well  content  to  perform  their  duties  to- 
gether, and  to  be  known  as  Belgians. 

When  the  people  talk  of  the  Belgians  as  a  modern 
people,  with  a  history  of  only  seventy-four  years,  they 
should  not  forget  that  the  Flemings  have  scarcely 
changed  in  character,  and  not  at  all  in  their  tongue, 
since  the  days  of  the  Plantagenets ;  and  that  the  Wal- 
loons, of  Liege  at  least,  are  very  much  what  they  were 
in  the  time  of  the  Prince-Bishops.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, it  would  have  been  natural  to  expect  that 
one  language  would  have  prevailed  over  the  other,  or, 
at  least,  spread,  while  the  other  contracted.  Such  has 
not  been  the  case.  The  Flemings  still  speak  Flemish, 
the  great  majority  of  the  Walloons  French,  while  the 
Walloons  of  the  Ardennes  and  parts  of  the  province 
of  Liege  retain,  for  ordinary  use,  their  old  "Romance" 
tongue,  Wralloon.     There  has  been  no  marked  change 


THE  TWO  RACES  OF  BELGIUM  9 

in  the  proportions  which  the  three  languages  bear  to 
each  other,  except  that  all  the  Walloons  now  speak 
French.  A  small  section  in  the  Liege  province,  on 
the  Prussian  frontier,  have,  however,  adopted  German 
instead,  but  numerically  they  are  insignificant. 

There  has  never  been  any  combined  or  common 
movement,  as  might  have  been  expected  during  the 
long  process  of  forming  a  new  nation,  towards  the 
adoption  of  a  single  language  in  either  French  or 
Flemish,  and  this  fact  is  very  remarkable  in  the  case 
of  French,  which  had  chances  of  spreading,  through 
its  hold  on  society  and  literature,  that  to  onlookers 
would  have  seemed  almost  irresistible.  The  powers  of 
resistance  possessed  by  the  Flemish  race  have  been 
well  displayed  in  the  preservation  of  their  language, 
and  this  triumph  is  rendered  more  remarkable  by  the 
fact  that  the  Flemings,  despite  their  language  being 
of  German  origin,  have  never  had  any  German  sym- 
pathies, and  have  never  received  any  outside  assistance 
whatever  in  the  successful  maintenance  of  the  right  to 
preserve  their  own  speech.  As  Flemish  national  energy 
is  just  as  intense  today  as  it  was  in  the  time  of  the 
Arteveldes,  any  project  for  the  suppression  of  the 
Flemish  language  by  French  must  now  be  pronounced 
chimerical.  The  French  propaganda  had  every  chance 
in  its  favor,  and  a  fair  field  between  1831  and  1885, 
and  it  signally  failed  to  gain  the  mastery.  The  con- 
ditions are  never  likely  to  be  again  so  favorable  for  it, 
and  in  the  meantime  a  decisive  Flemish  triumph  has 


10  BELGIUM 

been  achieved.  The  only  practical  solution  of  the  diffi- 
culty is  that  all  Belgians  should  be  bilinguists.  At 
present  this  accomplishment  is  possessed  by  little 
more  than  ten  per  cent  of  the  population,  and  the.  bulk 
of  these  persons  reside  in  Brussels  and  the  province  of 
Brabant,  which  is  intermediate  between  Flanders  and 
the  Walloon  countries. 

The  difference  in  the  language  of  the  two  races 
inhabiting  what  is  now  Belgium  first  attracted  atten- 
tion in  the  divisions  of  territory  that  took  place  soon 
after  the  death  of  Charlemagne,  more  than  a  thousand 
years  ago.  The  Fact  of  the  Flemings  speaking  a  Ger- 
man or  Tudesque  language  seems  to  show  clearly 
enough  that  they  are  descendants  of  the  German  col- 
onists established  on  Belgian  soil  by  several  Roman 
Emperors.  Clovis  also  introduced  German  settlers  in 
the  Meuse  Valley,  and  finally  Charlemagne  removed  a 
large  number  of  Saxon  families  from  their  homes  in 
Germany  to  the  plains  of  Flanders.  The  western  dis- 
tricts of  Belgium  were  those  in  which  these  immi- 
grants, voluntarily  or  forced,  congregated.  Flemish 
influence  never  reached  the  right  bank  of  the  Meuse, 
and  a  solid  wedge  of  Walloon  territory  separated  the 
Flemings  from  the  Germans.  When  the  Germans  be- 
came interested  in  the  Netherlands,  at  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  through  the  marriage  of  the  Arch- 
duke Maximilian  with  the  heiress  of  Burgundy,  the 
Flemings  had  lost  all  sympathy  with  their  kinsmen  in 
blood,  and  so  it  has  remained  ever  since. 


THE  TWO  RACES  OF  BELGIUM  11 

While  the  Flemish  people  form  the  German  ele- 
ment in  the  Belgian  nation,  ethnologically  considered, 
the  Walloons  represent  the  Celtic.  They  have  probably 
a  superior  claim  over  that  of  the  Flemings  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  descendants  of  the  Belgic  tribes  of  the 
country,  or  such  of  them  as  survived  the  sweeping 
measures  of  Caesar,  and  they  are  closely  akin  to  the 
people  of  ancient  Gaul  and  modern  France.  They 
were  probably  leavened  also  by  marriage  between  their 
women  and  the  members  of  the  Roman  garrison,  es- 
tablished for  several  centuries  on  their  soil,  just  as 
they  were  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries 
by  association  with  the  Spaniards.  The  Roman  and 
Spanish  types  are  frequently  met  with  in  the  provinces 
of  Namur,  Luxemburg,  and  Liege;  and  many  Roman 
names,  such  as  Gambrinus,  Fabronius,  Mamius  and 
Marius  are  to  be  found  today  among  Walloon  sur- 
names. 

The  Walloons  have  the  more  right  then,  to  pose  as 
the  original  inhabitants  of  the  country,  and  their  lan- 
guage may  be  regarded  as  the  "Romance"  tongue 
which  marked  the  transition  between  Latin  and 
French.  As  Walloon  is  a  living  language  today,  the 
vehicle  for  the  thoughts  of  the  people  in  large  dis- 
tricts, such  as  Liege  and  the  Ardennes,  this  race  has 
shown  scarcely  less  tenacity  in  preserving  the  idiom 
of  a  thousand  years  ago  than  the  Flemings.  But 
there  is  one  marked  difference  between  them.  There 
is  scarcely  a  Walloon  who  does  not  now  speak  French, 


12  BELGIUM 

whereas  the  vast  majority  of  the  Flemings  are  only 
acquainted  with  their  own  tongue,  and  find  themselves 
in  a  foreign  State  when  they  visit  the  French-speaking 
parts  of  the  common  country. 

As  the  two  races  had  preserved  their  own  separate 
languages  during  the  long  centuries  that  the  country 
was  subject  to  a  foreign  Power — Germany,  Spain, 
Austria,  France,  or  Holland — it  was  not  surprising  to 
find  that  the  achievement  of  independence  in  1830  was 
followed,  at  a  brief  interval,  by  the  appearance  of  a 
language  difficulty  in  modern  Belgium.  The  Belgian 
rising  against  the  Dutch  in  that  year  was  primarily  a 
Walloon  movement.  The  Flemings,  whose  community 
of  language  with  the  Dutch  provided  them  with  a  cer- 
tain fellow-feeling,  and  at  least  prevented  their  resent- 
ing the  proclamation  of  Dutch  as  the  official  national 
language  of  the  Netherlands,  were  more  disposed  than 
the  Walloons  to  accept  the  Orange  dynasty.  They 
might  have  dissociated  themselves  from  the  insurrec 
tionary  movement  altogether  but  for  the  Dutch  meas 
ures  against  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  which  roused 
their  religious  fervor,  and  even  as  it  was,  they  left  the 
direction  of  the  movement  in  the  hands  of  the  Wal- 
loons of  Brussels  and  Liege.  On  the  success  of  the 
movement  for  national  liberation,  it  was  only  natural, 
then,  that  the  Walloons  should  proclaim  French  as  the 
official  language  of  the  country.  At  that  moment, 
quite  half  the  population  did  not  understand  a  word 
of  it ;  but  seeing  that  the  fatal  act  of  the  Dutch,  which 


THE  TWO  RACES  OF  BELGIUM  13 

entailed  their  expulsion,  had  been  the  proclamation  of 
their  language  as  the  national  tongue  to  be  employed 
in  the  Courts,  the  triumph  of  French  became  a  nec- 
essary part  of  the  national  triumph,  and  any  agitation 
at  such  a  moment  on  behalf  of  the  Flemish  language 
would  have  seemed  unpatriotic  and  sympathetic  to  the 
Dutch.  None  the  less,  a  thoughtful  man  knowing  the 
situation  would  have  declared  that  such  a  state  of 
things  could  not  endure  permanently.  A  solution 
would  have  of  a  necessity  to  be  found,  or  the  State 
would  split  into  two  fragments  at  the  first  crisis  or 
appearance  of  danger.  The  only  possible  solutions 
were  three  in  number,  viz. :  that  the  Walloons  should 
give  up  French  and  adopt  Flemish,  which  was  so  in- 
conceivable as  to  be  palpably  absurd ;  or  that  the  Flem- 
ings should  drop  their  language  and  learn  French, 
which  if  not  so  fantastic,  was  still  highly  improbable; 
or  that  both  races  should  master  the  two  languages 
and  become  bilinguals.  For  this  last  solution,  the  most 
equal  and  the  most  flattering  arrangements  to  both 
races,  time  and  the  spread  of  education  were  essential 
elements  of  success. 

The  establishment  of  the  modern  kingdom  of  Bel- 
gium in  1831  was  followed  then  by  that  of  French 
in  the  Chambers,  the  Courts  of  Law,  and  the  Colleges 
as  the  national  language  of  the  new  State.  It  had 
been  employed  by  society  more  or  less  generally  since 
the  Crusades.  Not  a  word  was  raised  for  or  by  the 
Flemings,  the  vast  majority  of  whom,  as  has  been  said, 


14  BELGIUM 

could  not  at  that  moment  speak  a  word  of  French. 
But  before  the  young  kingdom  had  reached  its  twen- 
tieth year  several  things  had  become  clearer,  and  one 
of  these  was  that  the  Flemings  were  quite  resolved  not 
to  give  up  their  language.  The  necessary  corollary  of 
this  tenacity  was  that  they  should  claim  and  agitate 
for  the  admission  of  their  language  to  an  equal  place 
with  French  in  the  country,  of  which  they  formed  not 
the  lesser  part.  A  French  observer,  writing  in  1855 
from  Brussels,  declared,  'The  Fleming  is  slow,  but  he 
moves,  and  when  once  he  makes  up  his  mind  to  travel 
he  goes  far  without  stopping."  The  observation  was 
called  forth  by  the  appointment  of  a  commission  to  in- 
quire into  the  complaints  of  the  Flemish  population 
set  forth  in  numberless  petitions.  The  report  of  this 
commission  was  strongly  in  favor  of  Flemish  pre- 
tensions. It  recommended  that  Flemish  should  be 
placed  on  an  equality  with  French,  and  that  all  exami- 
nations and  pleadings  in  the  Courts  should  be  held  or 
expressed  in  either  language  or  in  both.  The  Govern- 
ment was  so  surprised  at  the  sweeping  character  of 
these  proposals  that  it  suppressed  the  report,  and  kept 
it  secret.  Its  purport  only  leaked  out  gradually  with 
the  lapse  of  years. 

The  Flemish  movement  began  at  Ghent  in  a  mod- 
est way  about  the  year  1836.  Half  a  dozen  literary 
and  scientific  men  founded  there  a  Flemish  review 
called  Belgisch  Museum,  and  meeting  with  consider- 
able success,  they  soon  afterwards  formed  a  club,  tak- 


THE  TWO  RACES  OF  BELGIUM  15 

ing  as  their  motto,  de  taal  is  gansch  het  volk — ''the  lan- 
guage is  the  whole  people."  In  1844,  Jan  Frans 
Willems,  the  leader  of  the  movement,  summoned  a 
congress,  not,  it  is  true,  for  a  political  purpose,  but 
merely  to  exhort  the  Government  to  preserve  the  lit- 
erary treasures  of  Flanders  by  the  publication  of  its 
ancient  texts.  Assent  was  given  to  this  request,  but 
the  necessary  funds  were  not  voted  for  ten  years, 
which  proved  that  the  Government  regarded  the  Flem- 
ish movement  with  distrust  and  even  dislike.  Willems 
died  soon  after  the  first  congress,  but  the  congresses 
went  on,  and  were  sometimes  held  in  Holland  as  well 
as  in  Belgium.  The  work  of  Willems  was  continued 
in  a  more  efficacious  manner  by  Henri  Conscience, 
whose  romances  stimulated  Flemish  pride  and  aspira- 
tions, and  recalled  the  great  days  of  Flanders.  His 
Leeuzv  van  Vlaanderen  became  not  merely  the  most 
popular  book  of  the  day,  but  it  idealized  for  all  time 
the  thoughts  and  longings  of  the  Flemish  race.  It  has, 
without  much  exaggeration,  been  called  the  Flemish 
Bible. 

The  efforts  of  Conscience  were  well  seconded  by 
those  of  the  poet  Ledeganck,  whose  ballads  were  sung 
or  recited  from  one  end  of  Flanders  to  the  other. 
There  were  many  other  writers  in  the  same  field,  and 
the  Flemish  agitation  was  illustrated  by  the  one  gen- 
uine literary  movement  that  has  occurred  in  modern 
Belgium.  There  were  thus  two  marked  and  opposing 
tendencies  in  the  country.    The  liberation  of  Belgium 


16  BELGIUM 

had  been  followed  by  the  undoubted  and  obvious  in- 
crease of  French  influence  in  official  circles.  All  the 
sympathies  of  the  Court  and  the  Government  were 
French,  but  there  was  no  corresponding  movement  in 
the  literature  of  the  country.  The  Walloon  intellect 
proved  sterile.  On  the  other  hand  was  to  be  seen  a 
remarkable  ebulition,  not  merely  of  talent,  but  of 
original  genius,  in  the  Flemish  race,  which  had  so 
long  remained  torpid  and  silent.  This  literary  activity 
furnished  proof  of  the  vitality  of  the  race,  and  of  the 
strength  of  its  hopes,  which  precluded  the  possibility 
of  contentment  with  a  subordinate  position.  The 
Flemings  were  resolved  not  to  be  a  party  to  their  own 
efacement.  It  was  not,  however,  until  1861  that  the 
Flemish  party  succeeded  in  carrying  in  the  Chamber 
an  address  to  the  King,  expressing  the  hope  that  jus- 
tice would  be  done  to  "the  well-founded  demands  of 
the  Flemings." 

It  was  soon  after  this  event  that  a  favorable  op- 
portunity offered  itself  for  a  demonstration  calculated 
to  stimulate  public  opinion.  A  native  of  Flanders, 
brought  before  one  of  the  courts  at  Brussels,  refused 
to  plead  in  French,  and  his  attitude  was  supported  and 
imitated  by  his  counsel.  In  another  case  a  Fleming 
accused  of  murder  was  tried  and  sentenced  without 
his  understanding  a  word  of  what  passed  in  court. 
The  most  was  made  of  these  cases  to  strengthen  the 
claims  of  the  Netherlanders,  as  the  Flemish  party 
called  themselves.    There  was  an  obvious  need  for  re- 


THE  TWO  RACES  OF  BELGIUM  17 

form,  and  the  public  realized  that  this  concession  of 
the  Flemish  demands  could  only  be  at  the  peril  of  dis- 
integration. At  last  a  first  tangible  success  was  ob- 
tained when  a  law  was  passed  in  1873  to  the  effect  that 
in  criminal  cases  the  court  should  employ  the  language 
of  the  accused  person.  After  that  the  Flemish  move- 
ment progressed  rapidly.  A  Flemish  Academy  was 
founded  by  the  State  in  1866 ;  Flemish  theaters  for  the 
exclusive  representation  of  Flemish  plays,  or,  at  least, 
translations,  were  set  up  at  the  cost  of  the  nation  in 
Brussels,  Antwerp,  and  Ghent.  Finally,  the  Flemish 
text  of  laws  and  regulations  was  declared  to  be  equally 
valid  with  the  French;  the  names  of  streets,  and  all 
public  notices  in  them,  were  to  be  printed  in  two  lan- 
guages in  the  five  provinces  in  which  Flemish  is 
spoken ;  and  a  fluent  acquaintance  with  both  languages 
has  more  recently  been  made  an  express  condition  of 
employment  in  Government  service  in  the  same  prov- 
inces for  minor  posts,  and  generally  those  of  a  superior 
grade.  With  these  successes  the  triumph  of  the  Flem- 
ish cause  may  be  said  to  have  been  made  complete. 
Ostrasized  after  1830,  the  Flemish  language  has 
gained  in  the  last  forty  years  a  position  of  equality 
with  French  as  the  official  language  of  Belgium. 

The  following  statistics  will  be  useful  for  purposes 
of  reference  in  connection  with  the  language  question. 
By  the  census  of  1890  the  population  of  Belgium  was 
6,069,321.  Of  this  number  2,744,271  spoke  only  Flem- 
ish, 700,997  spoke  French  and  Flemish,  58,590  French 


18  BELGIUM 

and  German,  7,028  Flemish  and  German,  and  36,185 
French,  Flemish,  and  German.  The  census  of  1900 
(we  have  not  yet  access  to  the  census  of  1910)  showed 
that  the  population  had  risen  to  6,815,054.  Of  this 
total  3,145,000  spoke  only  Flemish,  2,830,000  only 
French,  and  770,000  the  two  languages. 

The  struggle  of  the  languages  has,  therefore,  re- 
sulted in  what  may  be  called  a  drawn  battle.  Flemish 
has  gained  the  position  to  which  the  antiquity  and 
solidity  of  its  pretensions  entitle  it,  but  French  remains 
the  language  of  society,  of  the  administration,  and  of 
the  bulk  of  the  literature  of  the  country,  while  the 
common  language  of  the  people  in  the  eastern  and 
southeastern  divisions  is  Walloon.  There  still  remains 
to  be  found  a  solution  for  the  political  difficulties  that 
must  arise  in  a  community  so  constituted,  and  it  seems 
as  if  it  can  only  be  found  in  the  direction  of  bilingual- 
ism.  This  result  must  be  promoted  by  the  stipulation 
that  proficiency  in  the  two  tongues  is  requisite  for 
public  employment;  but  there  are  still  nearly  six  mil- 
lions of  people  in  Belgium  who  know  only  one  lan- 
guage. The  Flemings  have  preserved  their  language  by 
a  rigid  exclusiveness,  and  they  have  always  refused  to 
learn  any  other.  The  encouragement  of  bilingualism  by 
the  authorities  is  now  represented  to  be  an  insidious 
attempt  to  vulgarize  French  in  Flanders.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Walloons  are  protesting  against  the  waste 
of  time  and  uselessness  of  learning  a  language  which 
is  never  heard  in  Wallonia.     Time  may  remove  these 


THE  TWO  RACES  OF  BELGIUM  19 

suspicions  and  complaints,  and  force  home  the  convic- 
tion to  the  mind  of  every  Belgian  that  under  the  pe- 
culiar conditions  in  which  his  country  is  constituted, 
it  is  the  duty  of  each  citizen  to  master  the  language 
of  the  brother  race,  which  shares  the  same  national 
fortunes. 

The  great  bond,  however,  between  the  two  races 
is  religious  union.  Bavaria,  Ireland,  and  Belgium 
have  been  called  the  three  most  devoted  children  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  in  Belgium  today  the  Flemings 
are  the  staunchest  of  Roman  Catholics,  and  the  real 
supporters  of  the  political  influence  of  their  church. 
Readers  of  Motley  may  remember  his  describing  "the 
majority  of  the  burghers"  of  Ghent  as  belonging  to 
"the  Reformed  religion."  It  would  be  difficult  to 
discover  today  not  only  in  Ghent,  but  throughout  the 
whole  of  Flanders,  a  single  Flemish  family  which  is 
not  attached  to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  This  re- 
ligious unanimity  makes  for  the  stability  of  Belgium, 
because  it  effectually  separates  the  Flemings  from  the 
Dutch,  who  are  practically  the  same  people  in  race  and 
language.  The  Walloons  never  betrayed  any  sympa- 
thies with  the  Reformation,  and  their  devotion  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  sixteenth  century  was 
the  main  cause  of  the  preservation  of  Spanish  rule 
in  the  Netherlands,  and  of  the  consequent  split  of  the 
provinces  into  North  and  South.  But  at  the  present 
time  the  Flemings  rather  than  the  Walloons  are  the 
chief  prop  of  Roman  Catholic  power  in  Belgium.    The 


20  BELGIUM 

reason  for  this  may  be  found  by  comparing  the  char- 
acters of  the  two  races.  The  Fleming  is  simple  in  his 
habits,  and  somewhat  restricted  in  his  views,  but  with 
strong  feelings,  and  a  capacity  for  intense  devotion 
to  his  convictions.  He  is  averse  to  change  of  any  kind, 
and  having  reconciled  himself  to  the  Church  of  Rome, 
after  a  brief  lapse  three  and  a  half  centuries  ago,  for 
which  a  severe  penance  was  paid,  he  shows  no  tend- 
ency to  embark  on  further  theological  adventures. 
The  Walloon,  on  the  other  hand,  is  given  by  character 
to  skepticism  and  free  thought.  He  is  far  from  being 
a  docile  servant  of  the  Church,  and  politically  he  is 
quite  beyond  its  control ;  not  that  he  has  any  tendency 
towards  any  other  creed.  The  Church  of  Rome  has 
not  to  fear  Protestantism  in  any  form  among  the 
Walloons,  who  only  include  one  church  within  their 
religious  or  politico-religious  horizon.  With  them  it 
is  a  question  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  or  no 
church  at  all.  The  Walloons  are  the  chief  supporters 
and  producers  of  the  advanced  Liberals  and  the  So- 
cialists. With  the  former  the  religious  sentiment  is 
far  from  being  dead,  but  with  the  latter  the  deposition 
of  the  Church  is  an  article  of  their  program.  The 
Liberals,  however,  have  long  been  a  decaying  force. 
For  fifty  years  they  possessed  political  supremacy  in 
Belgium,  and  the  effort  has  apparently  exhausted 
them.  The  old  leaders  are  gone,  and  new  ones  have 
not  yet  been  found.  The  capacity  of  reproduction 
seems  to  have  disappeared.     The  Liberals  of  today 


THE  TWO  RACES  OF  BELGIUM  21 

have  no  inspiration  and  no  program.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Socialists  are  an  active  and  aggressive  body 
with  definite  ends,  and  moving  towards  a  clearly  vis- 
ible goal.  In  the  Walloon  provinces  they  are  rapidly 
winning  over,  if  they  have  not  already  won  over,  the 
whole  of  the  proletariat.  Fortunately  for  the  stability 
of  the  country,  the  Flemish  population  is  just  as  stolid 
in  its  support  of  the  Roman  Catholic  party,  which  from 
the  political  point  of  view  is  the  only  barrier  to  the 
spread  and  triumph  of  Republicanism  throughout  the 
land.  The  last  election,  however,  favors  a  belief  that 
the  formation  of  a  new  moderate  central  party  is  not 
outside  the  bounds  of  possibility,  and  several  eloquent 
speakers  have  been  discovered  who,  in  the  course  of 
time,  may  become  popular  leaders. 

There  is  another  direction  in  which  the  Flemings 
have  done  good  work.  They  may  claim  that  much  of 
the  present  prosperity  of  the  country  has  been  due  in 
a  special  degree  to  their  efforts.  They  are  hard  work- 
ers, and  the  development  of  the  agricultural  wealth  of 
East  and  West  Flanders  since  Belgium  became  a  king- 
dom has  been  unexampled.  Industrially  they  have  re- 
vived the  reputation  of  Ghent,  and  commercially  they 
have  made  Antwerp  the  first  or  second  port  of  the 
Continent.  The  extraordinary  material  progress  of 
Belgium  furnishes  clear  proof  that  the  presence  of 
distinct  races  side  by  side,  and  running  together,  as  it 
were,  in  harness,  is  not  incompatible  with  the  attain- 
ment of  a  high  degree  of  prosperity. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  EVOLUTION   OF   BELGIUM 

THERE  is  no  country  in  Europe  where  the  old  and 
the  new  are  brought  into  closer  juxtaposition 
than  in  Belgium.  Perhaps  it  is  due  to  its  compactness, 
to  its  manifest  limitations  in  size,  that  the  student 
seems  to  find  there  set  out  under  his  eyes  for  close 
examination  a  microcosm  of  European  history — on 
one  side  the  well-preserved  relics,  not  merely  in  art, 
but  in  social  customs,  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  on  the 
other  the  fierce  activities  of  this  twentieth  century. 
Its  civilization  might  be  called  a  product  of  Mediaeval- 
ism  moulded  by  modern  influences.  It  is  scarcely 
more  than'a  generation  of  time  since  Belgium  came 
into  her  own ;  yet  behind  the  Revolution  of  1830  lay 
ten  centuries  of  recorded  history.  There  are  dark 
periods  in  that  record  when  it  looked  on  the  surface 
as  if  the  nationality  that  owed  its  name  to  Caesar  had 
expired ;  but  a  little  research  suffices  to  show  that  be- 
low the  surface,  whatever  the  ruler's  name  on  the 
current  coin,  there  survived  the  pride  of  race  which  is 
the  surest  foundation  of  independence,  and  that  in  the 
darkest  hours  of  subjugation  the  cities  and  the  prov- 
inces of  Belgium  knew  how  to  retain,  or  if  lost  for 
brief  periods  to  recover,  their  civic  and  constitutional 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  BELGIUM  23 

privileges.  To  those  who  admire  the  display  of  cour- 
age and  fortitude  under  difficulties,  the  tenacity  of  the 
Belgians  throughout  their  chequered  history  should 
survive  as  a  model  of  an  arduous  fight  for  all  that 
men  hold  most  dear  may  be  won  in  the  teeth  of  adver- 
sity and  against  seemingly  hopeless  odds. 

Belgium  is  divided  into  nine  provinces.  Each  of 
their  names  recalls,  and  indeed  represents,  the  oldest 
and  most  famous  titles  on  the  roll  of  European  chiv- 
alry. They  are  (1  and  2)  Flanders  (now  divided  into 
East  and  West  to  separate  the  spheres  of  Ghent  and 
Bruges,  rival  though,  as  the  poet  Ledeganck  well 
called  them,  "Sister  Cities")  which  is  but  the  countdom 
created  by  Charlemagne,  oldest  of  hereditary  titles,  the 
holder  of  which  stood  first  among  the  Twelve  Peers 
of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  France ; 

(3)  Hainaut,  another  countdom  little  junior  to  its 
neighbor,  and  known  to  every  English  schoolboy  as 
the  home  of  the  good  Queen  Philippa,  savior  of  the 
citizens  of  Calais; 

(4)  Brabant,  a  Duchy  from  the  ninth  century, 
whose  dukes  were  long  regarded  as  the  mirror  of 
Western  chivalry; 

(5)  Limburg,  another  Duchy,  connected  with  the 
House  of  Geuldres,  of  which  the  famous  Egmont  was 
a  scion; 

(6)  Luxemburg,  the  countdom  of  the  illustrious 
blind  King  of  Bohemia,  killed  at  Crecy ; 

(7)  Antwerp,  a  Marquisate  held  by  the  sage  God- 


24  BELGIUM 

frey  of  Bouillon,  Lord  and  Protector  of  Jerusalem; 

(8)  Namur,  a  countdom  once  possessed  by  the 
Courtenay  family,  Emperors  of  the  East ;  and 

(9)  Liege,  the  seat  of  a  long  line  of  prince  bish- 
ops, who  held  their  own  for  a  thousand  years  among 
emperors  and  kings. 

These  provinces  remain  as  separate  entities,  each 
preserving  the  crest  and  coat  of  arms  borne  by  their 
feudal  owners,  but  are  all  now  merged  in  the  modern 
constitutional  Kingdom  of  Belgium.  Before  passing 
on  it  may  interest  the  inquiring  reader  to  state  that 
the  seven  hereditary  titles  just  recapitulated  belong  by 
descent  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  as  Head  of  the 
Houses  of  Hapsburg  and  Burgundy;  but  it  is  the 
present  practice  in  Belgium  to  call  the  heir  apparent 
Duke  of  Brabant,  his  brother,  the  Count  of  Flanders, 
and  if  the  Duke  of  Brabant  should  chance  to  have  a 
son  in  the  King's  lifetime,  he  is  called  the  Count  of 
Hainaut.  Better  proof  could  scarcely  be  furnished  as 
to  Belgium  love  for  antiquity. 

Side  by  side  with  the  feudal  dignities  of  which  we 
have  been  speaking  there  sprang  up  in  Belgium  an- 
other institution  that  is  scarcely  less  ancient  than  they 
are.  The  civic  dignities  won  by  the  people  themselves 
are  almost  as  old  as  those  conferred  by  Emperor  and 
King.  In  the  year  960  cloth  markets  were  recognized 
by  law  at  Ghent,  Courtrai,  and  Ypres;  and  in  1068 
the  city  of  Grammont  received  the  first  charter  granted 
by  any  of  the  Counts  to  the  people  of  the  towns.    This 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  BELGIUM  25 

charter  established  a  new  law  for  the  citizens,  making 
them  secure  against  the  tyranny  of  Feudal  and  Cler- 
ical Courts.  It  will  be  interesting  to  trace  the  devel- 
opment of  civic  liberty  in  the  history  of  the  great 
cities.  For  the  purpose  of  this  general  survey  it  is 
only  necessary  to  note  that  the  ancient  glories  of  Bel- 
gium are  as  much  civic  and  communal  as  noble,  feudal, 
and  chivalric.  It  was  from  Flanders  that  England 
borrowed  her  own  civic  institutions.  The  order  of  the 
Mayor,  Sheriffs,  and  Jury,  the  great  City  Companies, 
the  social  splendors  of  the  Guildhall,  the  excellent  sys- 
tem of  apprenticeship,  were  all  based  on  the  Flemish 
model,  and  originated  in  English  emulation  of  Belgian 
prosperity  and  enterprise.  The  connection  and  resem- 
blance are  all  closer  because  there  as  in  Belgium  civic 
magnificence  and  independence  were  regarded  as  en- 
tirely independent  of  and  separate  from  the  State  and 
political  power. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  James  van  Artevelde 
sought  to  convert  the  Communes  into  a  solid  political 
confederacy.  The  attempt  was  renewed  by  his  son 
Philip,  but  they  both  failed  of  success.  The  citizens 
did  not  want  political  influence  or  to  be  troubled  about 
high  affairs  of  State.  They  desired  local  liberty  and 
freedom  to  attend  to  their  own  business.  For  external 
questions  they  were  content  that  the  Counts  of  Flan- 
ders should  have  their  own  way,  and  they  were  willing 
to  provide  them  even  generously  with  subsidies  for 
the  purpose.    But  this  was  always  on  the  assumption 


26  BELGIUM 

that  the  civic  privileges  remained  intact,  and  when 
Ghent  incurred,  at  the  hands  of  the  Emperor  Charles 
V,  the  humiliation  which  its  insolence  fully  deserved, 
the  rights  and  statutes  of  the  other  cities  remained 
undisturbed. 

The  influence  of  these  civic  traditions  has  not  dis- 
appeared from  Belgian  life  today.  The  Belgian  de- 
scribes himself  by  the  name  of  his  city  rather  than  by 
his  country,  and  if  he  happens  to  be  of  Brussels,  he 
will  even  be  so  precise  as  to  cite  the  name  of  his  com- 
mune. For  instance,  it  is  quite  usual  to  hear  a  person 
reply,  instead  of  "I  am  a  native  of  Brussels,"  "I  am 
of  Scserbeek,"  or  "I  am  of  Ixelles."  The  explanation 
of  this  local  pride  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
whereas  the  Belgian  sometimes  lost  his  country,  he 
never  lost  his  commune,  and  that  he  also  found  con- 
solation in  local  liberty  for  the  loss  of  national  inde- 
pendence. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Belgian  life  and  character 
were  greatly  modified  by  the  events  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  It  does  not  seem  an  exaggeration  to  say  that 
from  the  time  of  the  Arteveldes  to  the  abdication  of 
Charles  V  the  Belgian  provinces  formed  the  richest 
state  in  Europe.  When  that  Emperor  was  chatting 
and  joking  with  his  rival,  Francis  I,  he  boasted  not 
of  his  Indian  argosies,  but  of  his  Flemish  possessions. 
"I  could  put  your  Paris  in  my  Gand,"  punning  on  the 
word  "gant"  or  glove.  Belgian  prosperity  was  greatly 
diminished  during  the  troubled  reign  of  Philip  II,  but 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  BELGIUM  27 

the  emigration  of  the  weavers  to  England  and  Holland 
dealt  a  ruder  and  more  lasting  blow  than  the  execu- 
tions ordered  by  the  Blood  Council.  The  emigrants 
not  merely  impoverished  the  country  they  quitted,  but 
they  enriched  that  which  they  made  their  new  home, 
by  bringing  to  its  industry  the  methods  devised  by 
their  own  skill  and  experience. 

After  the  sixteenth  century,  then,  Belgian  pros- 
perity declined,  and  the  life  of  the  nation  passed  under 
a  cloud  which  was  not  dispelled  until  the  country  ac- 
quired its  independence  three  centuries  later.  It  de- 
clined not  merely  in  itself,  but  by  comparison  with  the 
increased  prosperity  of  its  neighbors.  In  Bruges  and 
Ghent,  once  the  centers  of  world-wide  activity,  grass 
grew  in  the  stone-flagged  streets.  Antwerp  fared  no 
better,  for  its  trade  was  strangled  by  the  Dutch  who 
closed  the  Scheldt,  and  got  the  Powers  to  endorse  the 
closure  by  a  long  succession  of  treaties.  Trading  ships 
could  not  get  into  or  out  of  Antwerp  because  the  door 
of  the  port  was  shut  and  barred.  Nor  had  Belgium 
to  struggle  only  against  Dutch  jealousy.  When  the 
Emperor  Charles  VI  took  up  the  development  of  his 
Belgian  provinces,  and  endeavored  to  make  Ostend 
the  base  of  a  trade  with  India,  he  roused  the  apprehen- 
sions of  England,  whose  price  for  assenting  to  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction  in  favor  of  the  succession  of  his 
daughter,  Maria  Theresa,  was  the  cancelling  of  the 
Charter  of  the  Ostend  Company.  In  interesting  him- 
self in  colonial  matters  like  that  of  the  Congo  the  late 


28  BELGIUM 

King  Leopold  II  took  up  the  thread  that  was  dropped 
in  1731. 

The  self-repression,  and  even  suspended  national 
vitality,  to  which  the  Belgians  found  themselves  con- 
signed after  the  Treaty  of  Munster,  served  to  intensify 
the  feeling  that  they  had  to  live  a  life  apart  from  their 
rulers,  and  that  in  the  careful  preservation  of  inherited 
custom  they  had  the  sole  means  of  showing  that  they 
were  still  a  nation.  To  the  neglect  of  their  foreign 
rulers  were  long  added  the  horrors  of  the  wars  waged 
by  rival  nations  on  their  soil.  In  the  seventy  years 
that  closed  with  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  scarcely  a  city 
escaped  pillage  once  if  not  twice,  many  thousands  of 
soldiers  had  to  be  fed,  the  most  sanguinary  battles  of 
the  period  were  fought  in  Belgium.  War  was  a  curse, 
all  the  greater  because  peace  brought  no  blessing. 

Despite  the  rude  trials  of  this  long  period  of  ad- 
versity the  Belgians  clung  to  their  own  way  of  living, 
and  carried  on  the  national  traditions  notwithstanding 
the  presence  of  foreign  hosts  and  indifferent  rulers. 
When  Villeroi,  in  1895,  laid  half  Brussels  in  ashes,  and 
its  civic  life  seemed  ended  with  the  destruction  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  and  Guild  houses  on  the  Grande  Place, 
the  citizens,  regardless  of  international  storms  sweep- 
ing across  the  country,  set  themselves  to  the  task  of 
reconstructing  what  they  loved  with  patience  and  per- 
sistency. Twenty  years  after  the  bombardment  the 
Grande  Place  had  resumed  its  normal  appearance; 
the  Austrian  rulers,  on  assuming  the  government  of 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  BELGIUM  29 

the  country,  found  the  civic  life  of  the  capital  full  of 
vigor.  It  took  the  Austrians  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
absolutism  a  generation  to  discover  that  the  subject 
people,  of  whose  very  existence  the  Imperial  Chancery 
affected  to  be  ignorant,  had  a  constitution  of  their 
own.  The  Count  de  Neny,  Austrian  by  service  but 
Irish  in  blood,  reported  to  his  sovereign,  "These  people 
have  a  constitution,"  and  the  English  traveler,  Shaw, 
declared  the  Belgians  to  be  "the  freest  people  on  the 
continent  of  Europe." 

It  is  necessary  to  remember  these  things  if  we  are 
to  understand  how  it  was  that  the  Belgians  so  easily, 
and  as  it  were  naturally,  made  for  themselves  a  new 
constitution  and  system  of  government  in  1830.  They 
had  merely  to  borrow  from  the  old  charters  the  ordi- 
nances that  had  prescribed  the  freedom  of  the  people 
from  the  times  of  the  Baldwins  of  Flanders  and  Wen- 
ceslas  of  Brabant.  The  Belgian  Revolution  did  not 
introduce  a  new  system,  it  merely  revived  and  nation- 
alized what  had  already  been  cherished  as  its  ideal  by 
the  Belgian  people  under  every  form  of  foreign  tyr- 
anny. There  was  greater  difficulty  in  providing  for 
the  future  than  in  extracting  wisdom  from  the  past. 

For  after  Belgium  had  achieved  her  independence 
she  was  confronted  with  the  necessity  of  adapting 
herself  to  the  conditions  of  her  new  life.  The  old 
system  to  which  under  foreign  tyranny  she  had  clung, 
had  totally  disappeared  from  Western  Europe;  there 
remained  the  problem  how  would  she  adapt  herself 


30  BELGIUM 

to  the  new  exigencies  of  an  age  of  mechanical  devel- 
opment and  social  upheaval  ?  It  must  be  recorded  that 
under  the  influence  of  her  recent  emancipation  Bel- 
gium succumbed  to  modern  influences.  Veneration 
for  the  past  was  superseded  by  the  need  of  providing 
for  the  future.  An  entirely  new  Belgium  came  into 
evidence.  The  intense  conservatism  of  the  people  was 
modified  by  the  struggle  of  life,  now  that  it  had  become 
a  matter  of  national  existence.  One  common  trait 
connected  the  men  of  the  two  epochs — the  capacity  for 
work.  At  all  periods  of  his  history  the  Belgian  has 
been  a  hard  worker — "Give  me  a  Walloon  for  honest 
work,"  said  a  German  manufacturer  of  Gladbach  re- 
cently to  the  present  writer.  Before  1830  the  Belgian 
worked  under  adverse  circumstances,  after  that  year 
he  worked  with  hope.  In  the  wake  of  work  has  come 
unexampled  prosperity,  and  that  explains  why  the 
Belgian  character  and  mode  of  life  have  been  modified 
of  recent  years. 

When  its  industry  was  strangled  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  Belgium  became  essentially  an  agricultural 
country,  and  this  remained  the  state  of  things  until 
long  after  Waterloo.  To  the  Dutch  King  William  I 
belongs,  indeed,  the  credit  of  having  initiated  the  in- 
dustrial activity  which  is  the  characteristic  feature  of 
modern  Belgium  by  associating  himself  with  the  Eng- 
lishman, John  Cockerill,  in  founding  the  great  enter- 
prise at  Seraing.  But  it  was  not  until  after  the  sub- 
stitution of  national  for  Dutch  rule  that  the  coal  mines 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  BELGIUM  31 

of  Hainaut  and  Liege  were  exploited  to  any  extent. 
The  introduction  of  railways  in  1835  rendered  a  sup- 
ply of  home-produced  coal  necessary,  and  about  the 
same  time  that  the  Hainaut  coal-fields  were  brought 
into  full  activity  the  extensive  iron-field  between  the 
Sambre  and  Meuse  was  discovered  and  turned  to 
profit.  The  foundries  of  Charleroi  and  Seraing  were 
thus  provided  with  all  they  needed  for  immediate 
activity  and  future  development. 

The  achievement  of  national  independence  was 
thus  followed  by  a  great  outburst  of  industrial  and 
mechanical  activity  which  enormously  increased  the 
wealth  of  the  country.  The  provinces  continued  the 
intensive  agricultural  production  which  had  for  cen- 
turies kept  the  people  from  starving  when  their  land 
was  overrun  by  foreign  soldiers.  But  the  towns,  and 
especially  those  in  the  valleys  of  the  Meuse  and  the 
Sambre.  emerged  from  a  provincial  stage  and  became 
the  head  centers  of  the  new  national  activity.  The  as- 
pect of  the  country  completely  changed.  Its  rural 
character  was  modified  and  encroached  upon  by  the 
excavation  of  mines  and  quarries,  and  the  erection  of 
factories.  Those  who  knew  Belgium  at  the  time  of 
the  French  Revolution,  when  much  of  it  was  virgin 
forest,  would  not  have  known  it  fifty  years  later  when 
the  State  had  executed  the  plan  of  main  railways  de- 
vised in  1835. 

The  change  was  not  confined  to  the  external  aspect 
of  the  country.    Increased  prosperity  altered  the  char- 


32  BELGIUM 

acter  of  the  people.  The  necessity  of  thinking  out  and 
carrying  out  a  national  policy  introduced  new  views 
and  stimulated  larger  ideas.  Misfortune  had  made  the 
Belgian  secretive  and  reserved.  The  centuries  of  for- 
eign subjection  had  taught  him  the  wisdom  of  caution, 
and  those  who  are  always  cautious  must  in  the  end  be- 
come more  timid.  As  a  nation,  the  Belgians  of  the  old 
days  sought  to  efface  themselves;  and  they  succeeded 
in  their  object  so  well  that  no  foreign  observer,  after 
the  close  of  the  Burgundian  period,  can  be  found  who 
attempted  to  diagnose  their  character  or  to  treat  them 
seriously  as  a  people  differing  in  essential  points  from 
all  their  neighbors.  A  few  writers  during  the  Aus- 
trian occupation  refer  to  "the  good  Belgians"  as  "hum- 
ble, meek,  and  subservient."  That  was  before  the 
Brabant  revolution  which  temporarily  ended  Austria's 
domination,  but  it  would  have  been  far  nearer  the 
truth  to  have  selected  as  their  chief  national  character- 
istic long-suffering  pride.  They  might  be  imagined  as 
apostrophising  Fate  in  words  like  these:  "Do  your 
worst.  You  cannot  make  us  suffer  more  than  we  have 
suffered;  yet  we  survive!" 

As  great  a  change  as  has  passed  over  the  face  of 
the  country  has  modified  and  moulded  anew  the  Bel- 
gian character.  Prosperity,  the  remarkable  national 
success,  the  feeling  of  independence  have  dispelled  the 
timidity  that  used  to  color  all  the  views  of  the  Bel- 
gians. Those  who  described  them  as  loath  to  accept 
responsibility  and  fearful  of  their  capacity  to  retain 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  BELGIUM  33 

what  they  have  won  are  thinking  of  men  of  the  last 
generation  and  not  of  the  present  day.  Quiet  but  none 
the  less  resolute  self-confidence  is  the  basis  of  public 
opinion  among  Walloons  and  Flemings  alike.  The 
qualities  that  enable  nations  to  bear  adversity  are  not 
always  those  most  suited  for  prosperity.  Self-re- 
straint, the  suppression  of  natural  emotion  when  with- 
holding influence  disappears,  may  easily  become  ar- 
rogance, and  desire  to  browbeat  those  identified  with 
former  oppression  may  prove  irresistible.  But  in  the 
case  of  Belgium  two  circumstances  have  counteracted 
this  natural  revolution  from  one  extreme  to  the  other. 
There  is  the  limitation  to  Belgian  sovereignty  in  the 
imposition  of  permanent  neutrality  by  the  Treaty 
Powers  which  seemed  to  carry  with  it  the  assumption 
that  Europe  had  recognized  Belgium  to  a  certain 
extent  "on  probation."  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say 
that  that  phase  of  her  national  life  passed  away  long 
ago.  Belgium  can  more  or  less  work  out  her  own 
destiny. 

The  second  restraining  circumstances  is  of  a  mate- 
rial order.  To  meet  the  increased  financial  burden 
imposed  by  the  task  of  preserving  what  has  been  won 
under  such  difficult  and  perilous  conditions  attention 
has  had  to  be  concentrated  on  the  development  of  the 
country's  resources.  All  the  greater  effort  has  been 
needed  because  its  population  has  increased  at  a 
greater  rate  than  in  any  other  part  of  Europe.  With 
so  much  at  stake,  with  such  constant  and  continuous 


34  BELGIUM 

demands  on  the  administrative  and  intellectual  facul- 
ties of  the  nation,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  Belgian 
character  has  become  one  of  an  essentially  practical 
order,  and  that  it  recognizes  only  the  proved  facts  of 
the  day. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS 

1L  JOB  I  LI  BUS  Bruxella  viris  is  the  attribute  as- 
•L  V  signed  to  the  city  of  Brussels  in  the  well-known 
monkish  quatrain  that  summarizes  the  pretensions  of 
the  chief  Belgian  cities.  Seven  noble  houses  alone 
were  in  the  first  four  centuries  of  its  civic  existence, 
allowed  to  build  residences  of  stone  within  the  walls ; 
the  seven  gates  were  entrusted  to  the  guard  of  a  ccion 
of  each  family,  and  although  the  seven  lignages  have 
disappeared  from  the  livre  d'or  of  Belgian  nobility 
there  is  not  a  family  of  distinction  today  in  Brabant 
that  omits  to  trace  its  descent  from  one  or  other  of 
those  seven  Brussels  gentes.  The  chronicler  knew  his 
subject  when  he  declared  that  Brussels  was  proudest 
of  its  noblemen. 

The  early  history  of  Brussels  is  obscure,  and  it  is 
not  till  we  come  to  the  construction  of  the  first  wall  in 
the  year  1000  that  we  touch  firm  ground.  Yet  the 
place  is  mentioned  in  cartularies  of  the  tenth  century, 
and  popular  belief  is  far  astray  if  the  building  which 
gave  it  its  name  (Brock — sele,  i.  e.,  dwelling  on  the 
border  of  a  marsh)  was  not  there  a  hundred  years 
earlier.  The  dwelling  seems  to  have  been  the  residence 
of  the  clergy  attached  to  the  Church  of  St.  Gery, 

35 


36  BELGIUM 

erected  on  an  islet  in  the  river  Senne.  Here  about  the 
year  980  Charles,  brother  of  King  Lothaire  of  France, 
and  greatgrandson  of  Charlemagne,  who  had  been 
raised  to  the  Duchy  of  Lower  Lorraine  by  the  Em- 
peror of  Germany,  Otho  II,  built  a  castle,  in  close 
proximity  to  the  Church  of  St.  Gery.  To  this  church 
he  removed  from  Alost  the  body  of  Ste  Gudule  (niece 
of  the  first  Pepin  distinguished  as  "of  Landen")  and 
at  a  later  date  we  shall  see  how  her  name  became  at- 
tached to  the  collegiate  church  of  Brussels.  Charles 
did  not  reign  long,  for  on  attempting  to  make  good  his 
claim  to  the  French  throne  on  his  brother's  death  he 
was  captured  by  Hugh  Capet  and  died  in  prison  at 
Orleans.  One  of  his  daughters  named  Gerberga  had 
married  Lambert,  Count  of  Louvain,  who,  on  his 
father-in-law's  departure  appropriated  Brussels.  This 
circumstance  explains  why  Louvain  and  not  Brussels 
was  the  first  capital  of  Brabant,  and  why  modern 
Brussels  is  not  a  separate  bishopric. 

Lambert  is  an  important  personage  in  Brussels  his- 
tory for  he  was  the  first  to  surround  the  town  with 
a  wall.  This  enceinte  was  about  two  and  a  half  miles 
in  length  (4,000  meters),  and  its  eastern  side  ran  along 
the  crest  of  the  hill  named  Michael's  Mount,  which  at 
the  southern  extremity  was  specifically  called  the  Cau- 
denberg,  or  frigidus  mons  (the  cold  mount).  On  this 
side  then  the  wall  followed  part  of  the  modern  rue 
Royale  and  the  Caudenberg  stood  on  the  Place  Royale. 
Lambert  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Florennes,  but  dur- 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  37 

ing  the  indescribable  confusion  that  followed  in  the 
affairs  of  the  two  Lorraine  duchies  his  sons  Henry  and 
Lambert  II  succeeded  in  retaining  possession  of  both 
Louvain  and  Brussels.  In  the  year  1081  Henry  of 
Louvain  was  a  signatory  of  the  famous  Peace  Tribunal 
established  at  Liege.  In  his  time  also  the  Church, 
dedicated  to  St.  Michael  alone  in  the  first  place,  was 
commenced  on  its  present  site  half  way  up  the  slope 
of  the  mountain  at  Brussels,  and  the  relics  of  Ste 
Gudule  were  removed  there  from  the  Church  of  St. 
Gery.  It  was  after  this  incident  that  the  name  Ste 
Gudule  gradually  displaced  that  of  St.  Michael,  but 
in  all  formal  documents  both  names  are  preserved  to 
the  present  day. 

The  construction  of  the  wall  and  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Collegiate  Church,  which  has  been  for  so 
many  centuries  the  glory  of  Brussels,  marked  its  inclu- 
sion among  the  cities  created  by  the  industrial  develop- 
ment of  the  peoples  of  Flanders  and  Brabant.  If  the 
Count  of  Louvain  gave  the  order  for  surrounding 
Brussels  with  a  wall  to  be  pierced  by  seven  gates,  it 
was  the  citizens  themselves  who  built  it  for  their  own 
ends.  Protection  from  the  raids  of  robber  knights, 
and  even  from  the  attack  of  their  own  Counts  was 
what  they  sought,  and  thus  in  the  first  fortification  of 
Brussels  no  provision  of  a  residence  for  the  Count  was 
made.  The  seven  aristocratic  families  secured  the 
privilege  to  build  their  houses  in  stone — for  the  others 


38  BELGIUM 

wood  or  wattle  was  to  suffice — and  each  assumed  the 
custody  of  the  gate  nearest  to  its  abode. 

There  is  not  much  information  to  be  found  on  the 
subject  of  civic  life  in  Brussels  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, but  it  may  reasonably  be  assumed  that  the  provi- 
sion of  security  encouraged  the  weaving  industry 
which  furnished  the  basis  of  public  prosperity  in  Bra- 
bant as  well  as  Flanders.  An  incident  of  the  year 
1101,  which  is  still  preserved  in  public  memory  by  at 
least  a  partial  observance,  throws  some  light  on  the 
state  of  society  in  that  day.  In  1096  many  Brussels 
knights  and  citizens  left  to  follow  the  banner  of  God- 
frey of  Bouillon  for  the  First  Crusade.  More  than 
four  years  passed  without  news,  and  it  was  concluded 
that  all  had  perished  in  the  distant  expedition.  One 
afternoon — 19th  January,  1101 — the  watchman  at  one 
of  the  gates  announced  the  approach  of  a  small  band 
to  the  sound  of  trumpets.  It  was  soon  discovered  that 
they  were  the  returned  Crusaders,  or  at  least  such  of 
them  as  survived,  and  their  wives  and  womenfolk 
rushed  through  the  gates  to  meet  and  welcome  them. 
A  great  banquet  was  provided  in  honor  of  those  who 
were  thought  to  be  lost  but  had  returned  in  safety,  and 
it  was  declared  that  the  husbands  remained  so  long 
over  their  feast  and  their  wine  that  their  wives  seized 
them  and  carried  them  off  on  their  shoulders  to  bed. 
This  event  is  still  known  as  the  Vrouwkins  Avondt  or 
la  Veillee  des  Dames  (the  ladies'  watch),  and  in  some 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  39 

parts  of  Brussels  on  each  19th  of  January  women  may 
still  be  seen  carrying  men  about  on  their  backs. 

In  the  year  1140  Godfrey  the  Bearded,  Count  of 
Louvain  and  Brussels,  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  Duke 
of  Lower  Lorraine,  but  gradually  the  different  Counts 
(e.  g.,  Luxemburg,  Limburg,  Namur)  shook  off  their 
dependence  on  the  Duke  who  became  merely  a  feuda- 
tory of  the  Empire  on  the  same  level  as  the  others. 
It  was  in  these  circumstances  that  the  name  Brabant 
superseded  that  of  Lower  Lorrain.  The  diminution 
in  the  extent  and  significance  of  the  Duke's  authority 
rendered  the  good-will  of  the  citizens  of  Brussels  more 
important  to  him.  Thus  it  gave  the  citizens  their 
chance  of  establishing  their  own  position  in  an  age 
when  there  was  no  intermediate  grade  between  the  no- 
ble and  the  serf.  The  Duke  needed  the  subsidies  of 
the  towns ;  the  communes  granted  them  in  return  for 
rights  and  immunities.  In  1235  Louvain  and  Brus- 
sels received  their  first  charters  of  enfranchisement. 
They  were  exempted  from  the  operation  of  the  feudal 
law  by  the  Duke's  assent  to  laws  of  their  own  making. 
Brussels  acquired  the  right  of  choosing  seven  sheriffs 
and  thirteen  jurors,  subject,  indeed,  to  the  Duke's  ap- 
probation, but  this  formality  did  not  affect  the  main 
point  which  was  that  the  citizens  were  to  be  tried  not 
in  the  Duke's  court,  but  in  their  own.  Once  the  im- 
munity of  the  citizen  from  the  feudal  law  was  secured 
there  was  not  much  difficulty  in  making  each  grant  of 


40  BELGH 

money  an  occasion  for  strengthening  the  terms  or  en- 
larging the  conditions  of  the  original  charter. 

In  the  midst  of  these  discussions  came  the  reign  of 
John  I,  Duke  of  Brabant,  one  of  the  most  splendid 
figures  of  the  feudal  ages.  He  was  a  poet,  songster, 
and  knight-errant  as  well  as  a  great  general  and  a 
wise  and  considerate  ruler.  His  court  was  the  resort 
of  the  troubadours,  and  he  and  his  sister  Mary,  after- 
wards Queen  of  France,  took  part  in  the  competi; 
of  the  minstrels.  As  knight-errant  he  proved  the  vic- 
tor in  seventy  tournays,  the  most  memorable  of  which 
was  when  he  slew  his  sister's  calumniator  in  the  lists 
at  Paris  on  the  occasion  of  his  demanding  on  her  be- 
half the  "judgment  of  God."  His  claims  to  general- 
ship were  established  at  the  battle  of  Woeringen  on 
the  Rhine,  the  most  famous  victory  in  the  annals  of 
Brabant.  His  wars  proved  so  costly  that  he  had  t 
to  ask  the  citizens  of  Brussels  and  Louvain  to  aid  him 
with  the  twentieth  of  their  real  property.  In  return 
for  this  "free  gift. "  i s  it  was  termed,  the  cities  received 
further  privileges  including  a  definite  penal  code  which 
they  had  authority  to  enforce  on  all  persons  except 
"monks,  nuns,  priests,  Lombards,  and  Jews,"  who 
to  remain  subject  to  the  Duke  alone.  He  also  bound 
himself  to  nominate  no  amman  or  other  ducal  repre- 
sentative in  the  towns  as  the  reward  for  money  lent  to 
himself,  and  finally  he  agreed  that  the  evidence  of  his 
officers  and  servants  was  not  to  be  regarded  as  of 
greater  weight  than  that  of  their  accusers.    It  was  in 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  41 

1292  that  John  the  Victorious  granted  these  privileges; 
two  years  later  he  was  mortally  wounded  in  a  tournay 
in  Champagne,  and  he  was  buried  in  the  Church  of  the 
Franciscans  at  Brussels,  his  favorite  city. 

The  privileges  enumerated  were  won  and  retained 
not  by  the  mass  of  the  citizens,  but  by  the  privileged 
members  of  the  aristocratic  or  plutocratic  families 
who  alone  provided  the  sheriffs  and  jurors.    From  the 

disaffeetion    lli.it    i<<        <l    itself   dttftng   the    reigns  of 

John's  two  immediate  successors  it  seems  plain  that 
they  abused  their  power,  and  that  those  born  outside 
the  charmed  circle  found  oligarchical  tyranny  worse 
than  that  of  the  feudal  law.  Duke  John  II  supported 
the  privileged  classes  at  Brussels  and  Louvain,  and  in 
a  battle  in  the  Vilvorde  meadows  he  overthrew  the 
"white  hoods,"  as  the  artisans  called  themselves.  But 
in  the  end  the  citizens  carried  their  way  by  closing 
their  coffers,  and  in  the  year  1312  the  Duke  was  com- 
pelled to  sign  the  famous  Charter  of  Cortenberg, 
which  confirmed  and  extended  the  privileges  his  father 
had  granted  twenty  years  before.  This  charter  was 
the  real  basis  of  all  Belgian  liberties.  John  II  died 
soon  afterwards,  and  like  his  father  was  buried  in 
I '.russcls,  where  his  tomb  and  that  of  his  wife  Mar- 
garet of  York  may  be  seen  at  the  present  day  in  Ste 
Gudule. 

His  son  and  successor  John  III  was  allied,  some- 
what reluctantly,  by  treaty  with  Edward  III  of  Eng- 
land, who  appointed  him  his  "lieutenant-captain"  for 


42  '  BELGIUM 

the  kingdom  of  France,  but  his  days  were  saddened 
by  the  deaths  of  his  sons  and  the  ravages  of  the  "black 
death."  He  died  in  1355,  leaving  his  possessions  to 
his  daughter  Joan  and  her  husband  Wenceslas  of  Lux- 
emburg, son  of  the  blind  king  of  Bohemia  who  fell  at 
Crecy.  At  a  remarkable  assembly  on  the  eve  of  his 
death  the  representatives  of  thirty-eight  towns  of  Bra- 
bant swore  before  Duke  John  to  uphold  the  integrity 
of  the  dominions  he  bequeathed  to  his  daughter  and 
her  husband.  A  few  days  later,  January,  1356,  Wen- 
ceslas and  his  wife  made  their  "joyous  entry"  into 
Louvain,  and  it  was  decreed  that  this  form  of  inaugu- 
ration carried  with  it  the  ratification  by  each  succes- 
sive duke  of  the  Charter  of  Cortenberg. 

During  the  reigns  of  the  three  Johns  Brussels  had 
been  growing  in  importance.  Several  of  the  most  im- 
portant churches  that  have  come  down  to  the  present 
day  were  then  commenced.  Ste  Gudule,  the  Sablon, 
and  La  Chapelle  may  be  named.  John  III  built  on  the 
Caudenberg  the  castle  residence  which  ultimately  de- 
veloped into  the  famous  Palace  of  the  Netherlands. 
His  friend  and  comrade  in  arms,  William  de  Duven- 
voorde,  was  permitted  to  build  a  stone  house  near  his 
prince's,  and  this  became  eventually  the  Palace  of  Nas- 
sau and  the  home  of  William  the  Silent.  The  famous 
Hotel  de  Ville  already  flanked  the  Grande  Place,  and 
the  guilds  and  metiers  fixed  their  quarters  in  the  ad- 
jacent houses  although  at  first  they  were  built  only  in 
wood.    At  the  same  time  that  Brussels  was  assuming 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  43 

a  more  imposing  appearance  by  the  erection  of  these 
important  buildings,  its  inhabitants  were  greatly  in- 
creased by  the  advent  of  many  persons  who  wished  to 
exchange  the  insecurity  of  the  open  country  for  the 
security  of  a  walled  town.  Brussels  was  also  the  cen- 
ter of  a  prosperous  weaving  industry.  At  this  period 
the  population  may  be  reasonably  computed  at  50,000 
persons. 

Remembering  that  people  required  a  great  deal 
more  space  for  their  houses  in  those  days,  and  that 
some  cultivation  had  to  be  allowed  for  within  the  walls, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  the  original  enceinte  of  the 
year  1000  seemed  too  small,  and  that  space  within  it 
had  grown  too  cramped.  Almost  the  first  act  of  Wen- 
ceslas  and  Joan,  so  far  as  Brussels  was  concerned, 
was  to  decide  on  the  construction  of  a  new  and  en- 
larged wall,  which  was  still  to  be  pierced,  however,  by 
the  seven  historic  gates.  This  enceinte  embraced  a 
much  larger  extent  of  the  crest  of  Michael's  Mount 
than  its  predecessor,  and  the  three  gates  of  Louvain, 
Namur,  and  Hal,  occupied  the  very  positions  which 
their  names  at  least  apply  to  at  the  present  time,  al- 
though that  of  Hal  alone  remains  as  a  structure.  In- 
deed, the  wall  of  Wenceslas  existed  more  or  less  com- 
pletely down  to  the  time  of  Waterloo.  The  work  be- 
gun by  Wenceslas  in  1357  was  not  completed  till  the 
close  of  the  reign,  as  the  year  1381  carved  in  the  wall 
of  the  Hal  tower  shows. 

There  was  a   curious  but  strictly  enforced   rule 


44  BELGIUM 

passed  at  this  time  with  regard  to  entrance  and  exit 
to  and  from  the  city.  The  gates  were  open  from  3  :30 
in  the  morning  to  nine  at  night  in  the  summer, 
and  from  six  to  five  in  winter.  During  the  times  of 
closure  the  gates  were  opened  for  no  one,  high  or  low, 
and  the  belated  citizen  had  to  pass  the  night  as  well  as 
he  could  on  the  other  side  of  the  mote.  It  is  said  in 
one  of  the  chronicles  that  these  unlucky  persons,  in 
addition  to  being  kept  out  of  their  beds,  had  to  put  up 
with  the  jeers  and  jests  of  luckier  citizens  who  wit- 
nessed their  discomfiture  from  the  walls. 

It  was  just  before  the  commencement  of  the  sec- 
ond enceinte  that  one  of  the  most  striking  episodes  in 
Brussels  history  took  place.  On  the  death  of  John  III 
of  Brabant,  Louis  de  Male,  Count  of  Flanders,  put 
forward  his  claim  to  the  possession  of  Brussels  in  right 
of  his  wife,  the  Lady  Margaret,  Joan's  younger  sister. 
He  promptly  marched  with  a  large  army  to  seize  the 
city,  and  Joan,  in  the  absence  of  her  husband  Wences- 
las,  went  out  to  meet  him  in  the  fields  of  Scheut,  near 
Brussels.  The  battle,  fought  on  Aug.  17,  1356,  proved 
a  victory  for  Flanders,  but  Joan  escaped  to  join  her 
husband  on  the  Meuse.  Then  for  the  first  and  only 
time  in  history  a  Flemish  garrison  was  installed  in  the 
gay  proud  city  of  Brabant. 

The  occupation  lasted  only  two  months,  and  Brus- 
sels was  recovered  by  an  act  of  heroism  on  the  part  of 
a  scion  of  one  of  the  seven  lignages.  Everard 
T'Serclaes  was  a  knight  attached  to  the  cause  of  Wen- 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  45 

ceslas,  and  he  conceived  the  idea  that  it  would  be  easy 
to  recover  the  city  by  a  coup  de  main.  He  collected 
a  small  band  of  resolute  men  from  among  those  who 
had  fled  with  Joan,  and  scaling  the  wall  in  the  night 
of  Oct.  24,  1356,  made  straight  for  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 
Here  they  slew  the  guard,  cut  down  the  Flemish 
standard,  and  proceeded  to  rouse  the  citizens  to  the 
cry  of  "Brabant  for  the  Great  Duke!"  The  Flemish 
garrison  was  exterminated,  and  the  authority  of  Wen- 
ceslas  was  restored.  Everard  T'Serclaes  became  the 
hero-  of  Brussels  and  in  a  sense  still  remains  so. 
Thirty-three  years  later  he  was  surprised  on  the  high 
road  by  an  enemy  who  caused  his  tongue  to  be  cut  out 
and  a  foot  to  be  cut  off.  He  was  conveyed  into 
Brussels  to  die.  The  closing  scene  took  place  in  a 
house  known  as  the  Etoile  beside  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 
This  house,  built  of  wood,  was  demolished  in  the  six- 
teenth century  to  allow  of  a  fresh  street  being  pierced 
into  the  square;  and  some  years  ago  a  recumbent 
statue  of  Everard  T'Serclaes  was  placed  within  a  niche 
to  remind  the  modern  age  of  his  achievement. 

The  later  years  of  the  reign  of  Wenceslas  wit- 
nessed serious  troubles  at  Louvain,  where  the  trades 
rose  against  the  patricians.  In  the  end  the  Duke  had 
the  opportunity  of  establishing  his  own  power  through 
the  fatal  rivalry  of  the  two  parties,  but  the  prosperity 
of  Louvain  declined.  It  ceased  to  be  regarded  as  the 
capital  of  Brabant,  and  its  pre-eminence  was  trans- 
ferred to  Brussels.    Wenceslas,  although  he  extended 


46  BELGIUM 

the  charters  and  swore  more  than  once  to  respect  them 
in  return  for  subsidies,  did  not  love  the  cities.  He 
built  a  strong  moated  castle  at  Vilvorde,  which  was  as 
much  a  State  prison  as  a  house,  and  he  lived  generally 
at  Luxemburg.  He  died  at  that  place  and  was  buried 
at  the  famous  abbey  or  Orval.  His  widow  reigned 
alone  for  twenty-three  years  after  his  death,  dying 
herself  in  1406. 

The  fifteenth  century  saw  a  great  advance  in  the 
fortunes  of  Brussels.  Somebody  described  it  in  the 
fourteenth  century  as  "poor,  sad,  and  somber."  This 
was  at  a  moment  when  the  "black  death"  was  ravag- 
ing the  country.  The  establishment  of  the  House  of 
Burgundy  on  the  throne  of  the  Netherlands  intro- 
duced a  brighter  future.  It  was  not,  indeed,  until 
the  accession  of  the  third  Burgundian  ruler,  Philip 
the  Good,  that  any  definite  change  could  be  noted  in 
the  ruler's  treatment  of  Brussels.  He  was  the  ruler 
of  Brabant  as  well  as  Flanders,  having  made  his  "joy- 
ous entry"  into  Brussels  in  October,  1430.  That  oc- 
currence was  the  ratification  by  the  new  dynasty  not 
merely  of  the  charters  already  cited,  but  of  new  privi- 
leges gained  in  the  interval  after  Duchess  Joan's 
death.  Of  these  the  most  important  was  the  division 
of  the  forty  metiers  into  nine  Nations  that  still  exist. 

It  was  in  or  about  the  year  1450  that  Philip  the 
Good  transferred  his  residence  from  Ghent  to  Brus- 
sels. He  caused  the  castle  of  Caudenberg  to  be  en- 
larged and  embellished  so  that  it  might  form  a  suit- 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  47 

able  royal  residence.  He  enclosed  a  park  and  garden 
on  adjacent  ground,  and  as  a  proof  that  he  wished 
Brussels  to  be  regarded  as  the  capital  of  his  dynasty 
he  removed  to  it  from  Bruges,  which  had  witnessed 
its  foundation,  the  archives  and  treasury  of  his  famous 
order  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  The  famous  Hotel  de 
Ville  was  completed  and  the  gilt  figure  of  St.  Michael 
overcoming  the  Devil  (the  masterpiece  of  Martin  van 
Rode)  was  placed  as  a  vane  on  its  lofty  tower  where 
it  remained  until  damaged  and  broken  in  1863  during 
a  great  storm.  The  present  figure  is  as  near  as  may 
be  a  facsimile  by  the  artist  Heims.  The  city  seal  of 
Brussels  bears  the  figure  of  St.  Michael  as  that  of  its 
tutelary  saint. 

Charles  the  Bold  undid  as  much  as  he  could  of  the 
concessions  made  to  the  communes,  but  his  military 
failures  led  to  the  cities  once  more  becoming  masters 
of  the  situation,  and  after  his  death  his  daughter  Mary 
had  to  restore  all  that  he  had  taken  away.  It  was  at 
this  time  that  the  Burgomasters  of  Brussels,  who 
have  numbered  in  their  ranks  some  of  the  most  re- 
markable men  of  the  Netherlands,  began  to  figure 
prominently  before  the  public.  In  Flanders  the  com- 
munes were  always  impersonal,  except  for  the  brief 
passage  across  the  public  stage  of  the  Van  Arteveldes, 
but  in  Brussels  the  personal  element  was  obtrusive 
The  power  and  authority  of  the  commnue  became  con- 
centrated in  the  person  of  the  burgomaster,  the  elected 
head  of  the  citizen,  while  the  Duke's  amman  was  a 


48  BELGIUM 

mere  cypher,  and  at  last  the  sovereign  did  not  think 
it  worth  his  while  to  nominate  one. 

The  first  of  these  burgomasters  to  leave  a  name  in 
history  was  the  Chevalier  de  Locquenghien,  who  in 
1477  introduced  a  scheme  for  improving  the  water 
supply  of  the  city.  At  that  time  the  bulk  of  the  water 
required  was  obtained  from  the  Senne,  comparatively 
speaking  an  insignificant  stream.  We  know  nothing 
of  the  system  of  sanitation  enforced  in  cities  in  those 
days,  but  an  adequate  supply  of  water  was  essential 
both  in  peace  and  war.  The  growth  of  the  population 
called  for  an  increased  supply.  Locquenghien  ob- 
tained it  by  the  construction  of  a  canal  from  the  Rup- 
pel  and  the  Scheldt  to  the  Senne.  This  canal,  known 
as  the  Willebroeck,  provided  Brussels  with  the  nec- 
essary supply  and  also  with  a  fresh  means  of  com- 
munication with  Antwerp  and  the  outer  world.  It  was 
by  the  Willebroeck  Canal  that  the  Prince  of  Orange 
made  his  triumphal  entry  into  Brussels  at  the  invita- 
tion of  the  States  of  Branbant  on  Sept.  23,  1577.  The 
medal  struck  to  commemorate  the  event  bears  the 
name  of  Locquenghien  in  grateful  tribute  from  the 
people  who  benefited  by  his  work. 

Brussels  owed  much  to  Charles  V.  He  added  to 
the  Palace,  which  had  been  little  touched  since  the 
time  of  Philip  the  Good.  It  was  he  who  built  the  fine 
Cour  des  Bailies,  the  courtyard  surrounded  by  a  stone 
wall  crowned  with  iron  railings  elaborately  worked 
and  richly  gilded.    The  court  occupied  the  space  now 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  49 

allotted  to  the  Place  Royale.  Some  years  later  he  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  before  the  close  of  his  reign 
the  completion  of  the  beautiful  chapel.  It  was  consid- 
ered at  that  time  that  the  Palace  of  the  Netherlands 
was  the  finest  royal  residence  in  Europe 

Having  mentioned  Charles  V,  there  is  one  incident 
of  his  last  days  in  Brussels  that  may  be  referred  to. 
After  his  abdication  he  resided  for  twelve  months  in 
a  small  house  in  the  park  attached  to  the  Palace.  The 
house  seems  to  have  been  situated  at  the  extremity  of 
the  park  nearest  the  Porte  de  Louvain.  The  reason 
for  the  Emperor's  deferring  his  departure  for  the 
monastery  of  St.  Juste,  in  Estramadura,  is  not  clear, 
but  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  greatly  crippled  with 
gout  and  rheumatism.  While  waiting  here  he  received 
a  visit  from  Admiral  Coligny,  who  brought  him  a 
letter  from  the  King  of  France.  Charles  took  it  in 
his  hand,  but  owing  to  the  cramp  was  unable  to  break 
the  seals.  Coligny  had  to  cut  them  with  his  dagger. 
Then  they  fell  to  talking  of  wars  and  generalship, 
and  Coligny  did  the  part  of  listener.  Charles  declared 
that  his  brother  and  he  were  the  two  greatest  generals 
because  they  had  seen  more  wars  than  any  one  else. 
Then  came  Alva ;  Coligny  himself  was  too  young  as 
yet  to  aspire  to  that  eminence.  It  must  have  been  an 
interesting  conversation,  but  there  were  no  reporters 
present,  and  we  only  get  the  fragments. 

We  come  now  to  the  stormy  period  of  Alva  and 
the  Spanish  Inquisition.    Brussels  was  the  scene  of  all 


50  BELGIUM 

the  introductory  incidents.  It  saw  the  presentation 
of  the  famous  Petition  to  Margaret  of  Parma,  the 
formation  of  the  Beggars'  League  in  the  Culemburg 
Hotel,  and  then  the  flight  of  William  of  Orange  on 
the  approach  of  Alva,  and  the  arrest  of  Egmont  who 
would  not  flee.  Horn  was  then  enticed  to  Brussels 
and  placed  in  the  same  prison  as  his  friend,  first  at 
Ghent  and  finally  in  Brussels.  This  was  only  a  few 
days  before  their  execution  together  on  the  Grand' 
Place.  The  Maison  du  Roi,  which  was  built  about 
1520,  was  selected  as  their  final  place  of  detention, 
because  it  looked  on  the  Grand'  Place,  the  appointed 
scene  of  execution.  The  Maison  du  Roi  had  been 
named  in  the  first  place  the  Broodhuis  because  the 
price  of  bread  was  declared  there,  but  its  name  had 
been  changed  on  the  establishment  in  the  building  of 
some  of  the  Royal  Courts  of  Justice.  On  June  1,  1568, 
Alva  caused  eighteen  Belgian  nobles  to  be  executed, 
the  next  day  four  more  shared  their  fate.  There  was 
a  lull  of  two  days,  but  Egmont  and  Horn  had  been 
brought  from  Ghent.  On  the  5th  they  were  executed 
on  the  same  spot.  The  scene  has  been  described  by 
Motley,  who,  however,  omits  to  say  that  the  French 
Ambassador  exclaimed  on  seeing  Egmont's  head  fall 
in  the  dust:  "My  master's  army  has  been  reinforced 
by  10,000  men."  Another  and  little  known  instance  of 
the  callousness  of  Alva  was  furnished  in  the  year  fol- 
lowing these  executions,  when  a  great  tournay  and 
jousting  festival  was  held  on  the  Grand'  Place.    The 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  51 

contemporary  account  does  not  reveal  any  popular  in- 
terest in  the  affair.  The  citizens  of  Brussels  had  for 
the  time  at  least  been  cured  of  their  passion  for  amuse- 
ment. It  was  on  the  Grand'  Place,  too,  that  five  years 
later  Requescens,  the  new  Governor-General,  pro- 
claimed the  Pope's  pardon  and  the  King  of  Spain's 
amnesty  to  the  people  of  the  Netherlands,  or  rather 
to  such  of  them  as  remained  true  to  their  religion. 

A  very  different  scene  was  enacted  on  the  Grand* 
Place  a  little  later  on.  Brussels  joined  the  Pacification 
of  Ghent,  and  the  ruling  power  was  vested  in  the  old 
States  and  not  in  a  Spanish  Governor.  This  was  the 
time  when  William  the  Silent  paid  the  visit  to  Brus- 
sels already  referred  to.  He  might  have  given  life  to 
the  confederacy  in  Belgium,  but  unfortunately  the  no- 
bles of  Brabant  were  jealous  of  him  and  sent  to  Aus- 
tria for  the  Archduke  Mathias  to  come  as  Governor- 
General  of  the  Netherlands.  Mathias  came  and  took 
the  oath  to  the  States  in  1578  on  the  Grand'  Place,  and 
at  the  same  time  William  was  installed  in  the  inferior 
office  of  Governor  of  Brabant.  William  the  Silent  had 
also  rendered  himself  unpopular  in  Belgium  by  leav- 
ing the  Catholic  Church  and  proclaiming  himself  a 
Lutheran.  The  hollowness  of  these  appointments  was 
exposed  a  fortnight  later  when  Don  John  of  Austria 
routed  the  States'  army  at  Gembloux. 

The  last  and  most  curious  incident  of  this  period, 
that  had  the  Grand'  Place  as  its  scene,  was  the  attempt 
of  Philippe  d'Egmont,  in  June,  1579,  to  recover  Brus- 


52  BELGIUM 

sels  for  the  Spaniards.  Accompanied  by  a  few  hun- 
dred horsemen,  detached  from  the  army  with  which 
Parma  was  besieging  Maestricht,  young  Egmont, 
wishing  to  signalize  his  loyalty  by  some  striking  deed, 
made  a  raid  on  Brussels.  Forcing  one  of  the  gates, 
he  and  his  band  made  straight  for  the  Grand'  Place. 
But  the  town  levies  rose  to  the  occasion.  They  also 
hastened  to  the  scene,  and,  blocking  the  seven  streets 
then  and  still  leading  to  the  Square,  the  invaders  found 
themselves  caught  in  a  trap.  After  listening  to  the 
reproaches  poured  upon  him  for  forgetting  his  father's 
death,  Philippe  d'Egmont  was  allowed  to  retire,  having 
lost  but  few  of  his  men.  It  was  not  till  1585  that 
Parma,  busily  occupied  at  Ghent,  attacked  and  cap- 
tured Brussels.  Curiously  enough  the  records  mention 
that  a  Scottish  regiment  took  part  in  the  defense  with- 
out giving  any  particulars  of  its  name  or  composition. 
A  brighter  future  dawned  for  Brussels  in  the  year 
1599  when  the  Archduke  Albert  of  Austria  and  the 
Infanta  Isabella  of  Spain  made  their  "joyous  entry" 
into  the  city.  It  was  inaugurated  with  what  was 
deemed  a  happy  omen.  From  the  time  of  the  Cru- 
sades crossbowmanship  had  been  one  of  the  popular 
games  of  Belgium,  and  the  new  chief  was  expected 
to  draw  a  bolt  at  a  flying  bird.  Mary  of  Burgundy 
had  sped  a  shaft  with  unerring  aim.  So  had  Philip 
the  Fair  and  his  son  Charles  V.  Isabella  was  among 
the  fortunate  who  brought  down  the  quarry,  from 
which  a  bright  future  was  augured.    Even  to  the  pres- 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  53 

ent  day  the  guilds  of  the  Crossbowmen  of  Hainatit 
and  Brabant  are  important  and  prosperous.  How  im- 
portant they  were  in  the  Middle  Ages  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  the  Guild  of  the  Crossbowmen 
founded  in  1304  the  Church  of  Notre-Dame  des  Vic- 
toires,  which  exists  today  under  the  name  of  the 
Sablon. 

On  the  whole,  Brussels  flourished  during  the  seven- 
teenth century,  at  least  until  it  approached  its  close. 
Among  the  greatest  of  its  civic  chiefs  was  Frederic  le 
Marselaer,  Baron  de  Perch,  who  was  seven  times  Bur- 
gomaster in  the  first  quarter  of  that  century  and  whose 
lineaments  will  be  known  as  long  as  the  canvas  of 
Vandyke  endures.  The  same  artist's  portrait  of  the 
worthy  Burgomaster's  wife,  Margaret  de  Baronaige, 
also  exists,  but  his  group  of  twenty-three  members  of 
the  counsel  presided  over  by  Marselaer,  which  was  one 
of  the  ornaments  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  was  destroyed 
when  Villeroi  bombarded  Brussels  in  1695. 

The  Brussels  of  which  we  are  speaking  had  not 
changed  since  the  Middle  Ages,  and  probably  reached 
its  prime  about  the  year  1650,  when  Conde,  sulking 
like  Achilles  in  his  tent  during  the  Fronde,  took  shel- 
ter there  from  Richelieu.  We  have  a  contemporary 
description  of  the  city  from  the  pen  of  a  French  offi- 
cer, Colonel  Duplessis  l'Ecuyer,  who  was  in  his  suite, 
that  will  admit  of  being  quoted: 

"Brussels  is  one  of  the  finest,  largest,  and  best 
situated  cities,  not  only  of  Brabant,  but  of  the  whole 
of  Europe.     The  old  quarters,  which  have  an  aspect 


54  BELGIUM 

so  singularly  picturesque  with  their  sloping  and  tor- 
tuous streets,  the  fine  hotels  of  darkened  stone  sculp- 
tured in  the  Spanish  fashion,  and  the  magnificence  of 
the  Place  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  are  buried  behind  an 
enceinte  of  walls  pierced  by  eight  lofty  gates  flanked 
with  one  hundred  twenty  seven  round  towers  at  al- 
most equal  distance  from  each  other  like  the  balls  of 
a  crown.  At  a  distance  of  less  than  a  mile  commenced 
the  forest  of  Soignes  with  great  numbers  of  stags, 
red  and  roe  deer,  that  were  hunted  on  horseback  even 
under  the  ramparts  of  the  town.  On  the  promenade 
of  the  Court  there  circulated  in  a  long  file  ceaselessly 
during  fashionable  hours  five  or  six  hundred  carriages, 
the  servants  in  showy  liveries.  In  the  numerous 
churches  the  music  was  renowned.  Under  the  win- 
dows of  the  Palace  stretched  the  park,  open  all  the 
year  to  respectable  people  and  twice  a  year  to  the  pub- 
lic, a  park  filled  with  trees  of  rare  essences  and  the 
most  delicious  flowers  so  artistically  disposed  and  so 
refreshing  to  the  eyes  that  M.  de  la  Serre  declared  on 
leaving  that  if  he  had  seen  there  an  apple  tree  he 
would  assuredly  have  taken  it  for  an  earthly  Para- 
dise." 

This  very  pretty  picture,  drawn  by  a  Frenchman, 
was  sadly  interfered  with  by  one  of  his  countrymen 
some  forty  years  later.  Marshall  Villeroi  appeared  on 
the  heights  of  Anderlecht  with  an  army  of  60,000 
men  in  August,  1695,  and  forthwith  proceeded  to  bom- 
bard the  city  with  red-hot  bullets.  His  object  was  to 
compel  William  III  to  abandon  the  siege  of  Namur, 
which  was  on  the  point  of  surrender.  Villeroi  carried 
on  the  bombardment  for  forty-eight  hours  (August 
13-15)  and  during  this  time  an  enormous  amount  of 
damage    was    caused.      Sixteen    old    and    interesting 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  55 

churches,  all  the  ancient  buildings  on  £he  Grand' 
Place,  with  the  exception  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  tower, 
and  4,000  houses  were  laid  in  ruins.  Brussels  did  not 
begin  to  rise  from  its  ashes  until  after  the  end  of  the 
War  of  the  Spanish  Succession.  When  its  citizens  did 
take  heart  to  rebuild,  the  old  Mint  was  replaced  by  the 
first  Theater  of  "la  Monnaie." 

In  1731  Brussels  again  suffered  heavily  from  fire, 
when  the  famous  Palace  of  the  Netherlands  was  des- 
troyed through  the  carelessness  of  some  cooks  pre- 
paring sweetmeats.  The  fire  continued  for  two  days, 
the  Archduchess  Marie  Christine  barely  escaped  with 
her  life,  and  many  of  Rubens'  masterpieces  perished 
in  the  flames.  No  attempt  was  made  to  restore  this 
palace,  and  for  the  rest  of  the  period  of  Austrian  rule 
the  residence  of  the  Governor-General  was  fixed  in 
the  old  Nassau  Palace.  Villeroi's  bombardment  does 
not  stand  alone.  Marshal  Saxe  fired  on  the  city  in 
February,  1746,  but  more  considerate  than  his  prede- 
cessor, he  aimed  at  the  wall  and  not  at  the  public 
buildings.  After  this  occurrence  Brussels  remained 
in  the  possession  of  the  French  for  three  years  and 
received  two  visits  from  Louis  XV,  who  resided  in  the 
palace  of  the  Duke  d'Arenberg,  of  which  Egmont  had 
built  the  first  portion  in  1548. 

Two  further  incidents  may  be  referred  to  in  con- 
cluding this  chronicle.  After  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  the 
Netherlands  passed  to  Austria,  and  Prince  Eugene 
was  appointed  Governor-General.     Unfortunately  for 


56  BELGIUM 

Belgium  he  was  too  much  employed  with  his  work  as 
generalissimo  to  take  up  personal  charge,  and  he  ap- 
pointed as  his  nominee  the  Marquis  de  Prie.  De  Prie 
set  himself  to  the  task  of  establishing  a  rigid 
autocracy,  and  he  came  into  collision  with  the  civic 
authorities  who  strove  to  uphold  their  charters  and 
constitution.  The  champion  of  the  city  was  Francis 
Anneessens,  one  of  the  syndics,  and  he  set  the  example 
in  refusing  to  take  the  oath  until  the  old  constitutional 
rights  had  been  confirmed.  De  Prie  arrested  Annees- 
sens and  three  of  his  brother  syndics.  They  were  put 
on  their  trial  and  in  a  summary  manner  Anneessens 
was  sentenced  to  death  and  the  others  to  banishment. 
The  execution  took  place  on  the  Grand'  Place  on  Sept. 
19,  1719,  and  through  petty  spite  De  Prie  refused  his 
victim  Christian  burial,  but  his  remains  were  collected 
by  his  friends  and  admirers  and  given  a  burial  in  a 
secret  but  secure  grave  of  the  Church  of  La  Chapelle. 

The  later  Austrian  governors  were  more  consid- 
erate in  their  dealings  with  the  Belgian  people,  and 
Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine,  who  represented  the  Em- 
press Maria  Theresa  for  forty  years  at  Brussels,  was 
one  of  the  most  popular  rulers  the  Belgians  ever  had. 
It  was  he  who  planted  the  avenues  of  lime  trees  which 
still  adorn  the  upper  boulevards  of  the  city. 

During  the  Brabant  revolution  of  1789  Brussels 
was  captured,  as  the  saying  went,  "by  its  own  citizens." 
There  was,  however,  very  little  fighting  and  less  blood- 
shed.    It  is  said  that  60,000  shots  were  fired  and  no 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUSSELS  57 

one  was  killed,  for  "those  who  knew  how  to  shoot  did 
not  want  to  kill,  and  those  who  wished  to  kill  did  not 
know  how  to  shoot."  The  old  capital  on  the  slope 
and  summit  of  Michael's  Mount  has  held  its  own  in 
the  struggle  for  existence  among  great  European 
cities  during  the  eight  centuries  that  have  elapsed  since 
a  monkish  chronicler  called  it  "the  delice  and  glory  of 
Brabant.,, 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  STORY  OF  ANTWERP 


*T^  HE  records  of  Antwerp  are  meager  in  compari- 
*  son  with  those  of  the  other  cities,  but  as  its 
burning  by  the  Norman  pirates  in  the  year  836  is  an 
historical  fact,  it  must  then  have  existed  at  the  least 
for  a  century  or  more.  In  the  Frank  period  a  castle 
named  Andhunerbo  is  marked  on  the  site,  and  this 
brings  us  to  the  explanation  of  its  name.  The  castle 
was  built  here  to  protect  the  approach  by  the  Scheldt, 
and  to  prevent  robbery  either  by  foreign  plunderers, 
or  by  foreign  traders  introducing  goods  without  pay- 
ing toll  to  the  sovereign  of  the  land.  The  general 
European  punishment  for  theft  in  those  days  was  to 
cut  off  the  thief's  right  hand.  It  is  still  the  practice 
in  uncivilized  Africa  and  in  Afghanistan.  On  the 
Scheldt  the  infliction  of  the  penalty  had  a  sequel.  The 
cut  off  hands  were  thrown  into  the  river,  hence  the 
origin  of  the  name — Andhunerbo  in  mediaeval  Latin 
or  Antwerpen  in  Flemish,  i.  e.,  the  place  of  hand- 
throwing.  On  the  arms  of  the  city  to  this  day  appear 
the  castle  and  two  severed  hands. 

A  suggestion  has  been  made,  and  naturally  Motley, 
who  rather  lays  himself  out  for  ponderous  joking  at 
everything  mediaeval  and  feudal,  favors  it,  that  the 

58 


THE  STORY  OF  ANTWERP  59 

name  Antwerp  is  nothing  more  than  "an  t'  werf"  (in 
Flemish,  "on  the  wharf").  It  is  rather  curious  that  so 
skilful  a  compiler  of  facts  should  overlook  the  point 
that  this  really  fantastic  etymology  does  not  explain 
the  origin  of  the  older  name  of  Andhunerbo,  which 
can  only  have  one  meaning.  Besides,  Antwerp  was 
not  a  place  of  trade  until  a  much  later  period.  It  was 
a  castle  guarding  an  approach  to  the  country  by  a 
river,  and  proof  of  this  is  furnished  by  the  fact  that 
the  Emperor  Otho,  on  creating  the  fief,  made  it  a 
Marquisate — that  is  to  say,  a  frontier  countdom. 
Among  the  holders  of  this  title  the  most  famous  was 
Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  but  if  a  herald  were  to  recite  the 
full  titles  and  dignities  of  the  Head  of  the  House  of 
Hapsburg  there  would  appear  among  them  that  of 
Marquis  of  Antwerp. 

The  commercial  importance  of  Antwerp  dated 
from  the  beginning  of  the  decline  of  Bruges  through 
the  silting  up  of  the  Zwyn.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  approach  of  this  calamity  was  visible  half  a 
century  before  it  became  complete,  and  the  desertion 
of  Bruges  by  traders  was  gradual.  The  patronage  of 
the  Burgundian  Court  also  staved  off  the  blow  till  the 
last  possible  moment.  But  none  the  less  the  com- 
mercial importance  of  Antwerp  was  well  established 
in  the  earlier  half  of  the  fifteenth  century.  In  the  year 
1450  the  Antwerp  records  show  that  the  Place  de  Meir 
was  paved  with  stone  for  the  first  time.    This  was  the 


60  BELGIUM 

year  also  when  the  famous  Cathedral,  which  was  com- 
menced a  hundred  years  before,  was  brought  practi- 
cally to  completion.  In  1490  the  foreign  merchant 
Guilds  or  Nations  transferred  their  headquarters  from 
Bruges  to  Antwerp  which  at  once  became  the  principal 
center  of  trade  for  the  whole  of  the  Netherlands.  Its 
position  was  far  superior  in  every  way  to  that  of 
Bruges.  Seated  on  a  tidal  river,  navigable  by  the 
largest  ships,  it  was  most  advantageously  placed  for 
communication  by  various  waterways  with  the  central 
and  eastern  provinces  of  Belgium. 

The  period  of  Antwerp's  greatest  splendor  was 
between  the  years  1550  and  1560,  when  it  contained 
the  houses  of  not  fewer  than  a  thousand  foreign  mer- 
chants. These  houses  were  divided  among  six  nations, 
viz.,  the  Spaniards,  the  Danes  and  the  Hansa  together, 
the  Italians,  the  English,  the  Portuguese,  and  the  Ger- 
mans. In  1560  more  business  was  done  in  one  month 
at  Antwerp  than  in  two  years  at  Venice,  although  that 
city  was  still  one  of  the  chief  places  of  trade  in  the 
world.  Every  day  nearly  500  vessels  entered  and  left 
the  great  port  on  the  Scheldt,  and  two  thousand  wag- 
ons entered  the  city  every  week  from  France  or  Ger- 
many. Between  1550  and  1577  the  total  of  the  popu- 
lation fluctuated  between  one  hundred  fifty  and  two 
hundred  fifty  thousand  persons.  During  this  period 
of  her  greatest  splendor  Antwerp  acquired  her  most 
famous  buildinsrs  after  her  churches.     The  Hotel  de 


THE  STORY  OF  ANTWERP  61 

Ville,  the  Bourse  (burnt  down  in  1858  and  rebuilt), 
the  Vieille  Boucherie,  the  Musee  Plantin  all  date  from 
this  epoch. 

Bruges  fell  by  the  work  of  nature;  Antwerp  de- 
clined by  the  act  of  man.  Antwerp  has  no  reason  to  love 
the  names  of  Spain  and  Alva.  In  1567  Alva  placed  a 
Spanish  garrison  in  Antwerp,  and  his  first  task  was  to 
build  a  citadel  with  the  money  of  its  citizens.  Walls 
and  fortified  gates  had  always  been  the  chief  demand 
of  the  cities ;  the  construction  of  a  castle  or  citadel  in 
the  interior  of  the  city  had  always  been  the  first  step 
in  subjecting  it  to  unrestrained  autocratic  power.  Ant- 
werp had  escaped  the  troubles  of  the  feudal  period. 
Her  day  of  trouble  had  arrived.  The  bastions  of 
Alva's  citadel  were  so  solid  that  it  took  the  French 
siege  artillery  three  weeks  to  destroy  part  of  them  in 
1832. 

Beyond  providing  the  means  of  its  downfall,  Ant- 
werp did  not  suffer  at  the  hands  of  Alva.  The  great 
blow  was  dealt  by  the  mutinous  Spanish  garrison, 
which,  having  long  arrears  of  pay  to  receive,  decided 
to  repay  itself  by  sacking  the  city  over  which  it  was 
supposed  to  keep  guard.  The  Spanish  Fury,  as  it  was 
called,  raged  through  three  days  of  the  month  of  No- 
vember, 1576.  More  than  six  thousand  men,  women, 
and  children  were  butchered,  eight  hundred  houses 
were  destroyed  by  fire,  and  damage  was  done  to  the 
extent  of  ten  millions  of  our  present  money.  That 
was  the  direct  loss ;  the  indirect  was  greater,  for  a 


62  BELGIUM 

considerable  number  of  the  citizens  at  once  took  refuge 
in  England.  The  next  blow  that  fell  on  Antwerp  was 
the  treacherous  attempt  of  Anjou  to  seize  the  city  in 
1583,  but  the  French  Fury,  as  it  was  called,  unlike  the 
Spanish,  ended  in  the  triumph  of  the  citizens. 

It  was  Parma,  the  greatest  of  the  Spanish  leaders, 
who  dealt  Antwerp  its  coup  de  grace.  In  1584  he  be- 
gan its  siege  in  a  deliberate  fashion  by  cutting  off  its 
communications.  The  city  was  held  by  a  strong  gar- 
rison under  Marnix  de  Ste  Aldegonde,  but  so  close 
was  the  investment  that  by  the  summer  of  1585"  the 
besieged  were  on  the  verge  of  starvation  and  Marnix 
was  obliged  to  capitulate.  The  victory  was  stained  by 
no  act  of  cruelty,  but  in  the  eighteen  months  covered 
by  the  siege,  the  population  of  Antwerp  fell  from 
85,000  to  55,000  persons.  This  decline  was,  of  course, 
largely  due  to  the  voluntary  emigration  of  those  who 
elected  to  follow  the  new  religion. 

Here  again,  as  is  so  often  the  case  in  human  affairs, 
the  indirect  consequences  were  more  serious  than  the 
direct  loss.  Antwerp  passed  finally  under  the  rule  of 
Spain,  and  its  legitimate  successors.  That  signified  its 
complete  severance  from  the  revolted  northern  prov- 
inces, which  had  acquired  the  command  of  the  sea. 
To  the  great  joy  of  its  commercial  rivals  in  Amster- 
dam and  Rotterdam,  the  blockade  of  the  Scheldt  was 
established,  and  the  prosperity  of  Antwerp  vanished 
like  a  dream.  This  blockade  lasted  during  the  better 
part  of  three  centuries.    From  an  act  of  war  it  passed 


THE  STORY  OF  ANTWERP  63 

into  an  international  condition  embodied  in  a  succes- 
sion of  treaties.  One  of  the  most  prized  possessions 
of  the  Dutch  was  the  right  to  close  and  keep  closed 
the  navigation  of  the  Scheldt.  The  effect  of  this  ex- 
clusion from  the  sea  on  the  prosperity  of  Antwerp  is 
recorded  in  statistics  that  cannot  be  challenged  or  re- 
futed. The  city  which  contained  after  Parma's  con- 
quest a  population  of  55,000,  had  no  more  than  45,000 
inhabitants  in  1780,  and  of  these  one-third  received 
charitable  relief.  The  cause  is  as  clearly  revealed  as 
the  result.  The  port,  which  in  1555  had  seen  2,500 
ships  at  anchor  in  its  roadstead,  and  500  ships  sail  or 
arrive  in  a  single  day,  received  in  the  year  1761  only 
four  vessels. 

Antwerp  enjoyed  a  glimpse  of  its  early  prosperity 
during  the  French  occupation  from  1794  to  1814.  The 
closure  of  the  Scheldt  was  declared  to  be  "a  survival 
of  feudal  tyranny  and  a  violation  of  the  rights  of 
man."  When  France  made  a  treaty  with  Holland  as 
the  Batavian  Republic  in  1795,  she  exacted  the  free- 
dom of  the  Scheldt,  and  for  the  first  and  only  time  the 
Dutch  waived  their  right.  Despite  the  English  com- 
mand of  the  seas,  as  many  as  3,000  ships  came  up  to 
Antwerp  in  1813.  After  the  withdrawal  of  the  French, 
Belgium  was  joined  to  Holland  as  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Netherlands,  and  it  was,  of  course,  impossible  for  the 
Dutch  to  enforce  old  treaty  right  against  their  fellow- 
subjects.  But  after  the  Belgian  revolution,  this  claim 
to  close  a  neighbor's  river  was  revived,  and  once  more 


64  BELGIUM 

the  European  Powers  ratified  a  preposterous  preten- 
sion. On  this  occasion,  however,  it  was  given  a  new 
form.  The  Dutch  were  no  longer  to  have  the  right  to 
close  the  river  by  firing  upon  and  sinking  any  ship 
that  entered  it;  but  they  were  authorized  to  exact 
what  was  practically  speaking  a  prohibitive  toll — pro- 
hibitive in  the  sense  that  it  only  admitted  of  a  moder- 
ate traffic,  and  forbade  all  expectation  of  its  free  ex- 
pansion. 

The  situation  thus  created  between  Belgium  and 
Holland  was  really  intolerable,  and  no  friend  of  the 
two  States  could  find  a  word  to  say  in  favor  of  its 
continuance.  But  old  privileges  and  treaty  rights  are 
not  easily  abandoned,  and  in  this  particular  the  Hague 
Government  resembled  every  other.  The  toll  of  73 
cents  per  ton  was  rigorously  levied,  and  the  Belgian 
Government,  which  had  voluntarily  taken  the  burden 
on  its  own  shoulders,  found  the  charge  irksome  and 
irritating.  Among  other  consequences  it  rendered  it 
loth  to  stimulate  the  trade  of  Antwerp. 

A  way  out  of  the  difficulty  was  discovered  through 
the  patient  and  persistent  efforts  of  the  late  Baron 
Lambermont,  of  the  Belgian  Foreign  Department. 
The  question  of  river  navigation  in  Europe  had  been 
thoroughly  discussed  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  where 
the  clearest  and  soundest  principles  for  its  complete 
freedom  from  all  hindrances  had  been  laid  down.  The 
arrangements  under  the  Twenty-four  Articles  for  the 
Scheldt  were  really  an  infringement  of  those  princi- 


THE  STORY  OF  ANTWERP  65 

pies,  and  it  is  to  the  credit  of  Lord  Palmerston  that 
he  strove  hard  to  mould  them  in  a  more  liberal  spirit. 
His  example  was  an  encouragement  to  the  Belgian 
statesman,  who  set  himself  to  the  task  of  emancipating 
his  countrymen  from  an  unjust  and  offensive  limita- 
tion of  their  own  freedom  and  independence. 

The  case  of  the  Scheldt,  although  the  most  arbi- 
trary, did  not  fortunately  stand  alone.  There  were 
others  less  involved  with  national  prejudice  which 
called  for  settlement,  and  the  solution  of  which  could 
not  but  hasten  that  of  the  major  and  more  difficult 
problem.  The  case  of  the  Sound  and  the  Two  Belts 
was  the  first  to  present  itself.  Denmark  had  there  the 
same  right  of  tolls  as  Holland  possessed  on  the 
Scheldt.  A  conference  met  at  Copenhagen  in  1856  to 
put  an  end  to  the  exaction.  At  Baron  Lambermont's 
instigation,  Belgium  negotiated  a  special  convention 
with  Denmark,  by  which  Denmark  acquitted  Belgium 
from  paying  any  quota  to  the  sum  raised  to  free  the 
Danish  straits  in  return  for  Belgium's  engagement, 
that  in  the  event  of  the  capitalization  of  the  tolls  on 
the  Scheldt  she  would  pay  whatever  there  might  fall 
on  Denmark.  Thus  two  principles  were  very  adroitly 
introduced.  First,  that  the  tolls  of  the  Scheldt  were 
just  as  susceptible  of  being  bought  up  as  those  of  the 
Sound,  and  secondly,  that  each  navigating  State  was 
liable  for  its  quota. 

A  second  case  of  a  similar  kind  arose  in  1860,  when 
the  State  tolls  levied  by  the  Hanoverian  Government 


66  BELGIUM 

o'i  the  Elbe  were  capitalized  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
British  Government.  Baron  Lambermont  availed  him- 
self of  this  fresh  opportunity  by  opening  negotiations 
with  the  Hanoverian  Government,  and  in  1861  a 
Belgic-Hanoverian  convention  was  signed  on  the  same 
lines  as  that  with  Denmark. 

Armed  with  these  two  precedents,  the  Belgian  Gov- 
ernment then  asked  the  Dutch  Government  the  plain 
question  whether  it  would  admit  or  not  the  possibility 
of  capitalizing  the  Scheldt  tolls.  For  the  first  time 
since  the  privilege  had  been  asserted  to  the  detriment 
of  the  people  of  Belgium,  the  Dutch  made  a  consid- 
erate reply  by  giving  a  cordial  assent  to  the  new  prin- 
ciple. There  remained  only  the  practical  point  of  de- 
ciding the  quotas  to  be  contributed  by  the  respective 
navigating  Powers.  In  this  part  of  the  matter,  Eng- 
land, whose  tonnage  on  the  Scheldt  was  the  largest, 
became  the  most  important  factor  in  the  problem. 

The  quota  could  not  be  fixed  by  the  simple  rule  of 
a  comparison  of  the  tonnage  under  each  flag,  for  by 
such  an  arrangement  Belgium,  the  chief  beneficiary, 
would  have  got  off  for  a  trifling  contribution.  The 
Belgian  diplomatist  avoided  this  pitfall.  He  recom- 
mended his  Government  to  take  upon  itself  the  re- 
sponsibility of  providing  one-third  of  the  total  capital, 
or  six  times  the  amount  that  it  would  have  had  to  pay 
by  a  mere  comparison  of  tonnage.  These  points  set- 
tled, the  British  Government  was  approached,  for  its 
co-operation  as  the  largest  contributor  of  all  was  es- 


THE  STORY  OF  ANTWERP  67 

sential  to  success.  Our  policy  had  always  been  favor- 
able to  the  removal  of  trade  impediments,  and  no  dif- 
ficulty was  experienced  in  London.  There  remained 
only  to  conclude  a  formal  treaty  with  Holland  prior 
to  the  summoning  of  a  general  conference  for  the 
ratification  of  these  separate  arrangements  and  their 
embodiment  in  a  single  act.  Twenty-one  Powers  took 
part  in  the  conference  at  Brussels  in  July,  1863,  which 
finally  freed  the  Scheldt.  Belgium  contributed  alto- 
gether $2,665,600,  but  if  the  toll  had  continued  to 
be  levied,  it  has  been  computed  that  she  would  have 
$114,904,663.40.  In  modestly  describing  the  signifi- 
cance of  his  own  work,  Baron  Lambermont  wrote :  "In 
leanding  its  concurrence  to  the  purchase  of  the  Scheldt 
tolls  the  conference  will  undoubtedly  render  a  service 
to  trade  generally.  It  will  complete  to  the  benefit  of  all 
nations  the  work  commenced  in  the  Sound  and  con- 
tinued in  the  Elbe.  Nor  is  this  all.  The  foreign 
States  will,  by  aiding  Belgium  in  an  enterprise  which 
is  known  to  be  its  legitimate  desire  and  ambition,  by 
giving  this  country  and  its  venerated  head  a  striking 
mark  of  sympathy,  and  by  coming  forward  to  sanction 
by  their  co-operation  the  henceforth  perfect  freedom 
of  the  Scheldt,  bring  a  new  consecration  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  our  nationality,  and  they  will  attach  to  it 
in  some  manner  the  imprint  of  universal  solidarity. " 


68  BELGIUM 

The  freeing  of  the  Scheldt  removed  the  fetters  that 
had  hindered  the  development  of  Antwerp  since  the 
days  of  its  prime  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. Since  that  event,  the  city  has  burst  its  barriers, 
stretching  out  in  every  direction,  and  trebling  its  popu- 
lation. It  has  become  not  merely  the  chief  outlet  of 
Belgium,  but  one  of  the  principal  seaports  of  Europe. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  STORY   OF  BRUGES  AND  GHENT 

THE  story  of  the  sister  cities  Bruges  and  Ghent 
may  be  told  together,  and  as  it  forms  the  best- 
known  part  of  Belgian  history,  a  brief  summary  of 
the  leading  incidents  will  suffice. 

The  story  of  Bruges  begins  with  the  Foresters  of 
Flanders,  the  officers  entrusted  by  Charlemagne  with 
the  guard  of  that  part  of  his  kingdom  who  eventually 
became  Counts  of  Flanders.  Bruges  itself,  at  the 
commencement,  was  known  as  Flanders  (Vlaenderen). 
It  was  Baldwin  Bras  de  Fer  who  gave  it  a  separate 
name,  and  that  no  more  high  sounding  than  the  place 
of  a  bridge.  His  son,  the  second  Baldwin,  fortified  it, 
Ghent,  Courtrai,  and  Ypres  at  the  same  time,  thus 
founding  together  the  four  famous  Flemish  com- 
munes. Baldwin  II  married  Elstrud,  the  daughter  of 
Alfred,  thus  establishing  the  first  link  between  Eng- 
land and  Flanders.  The  first  mention  of  Ghent  is 
slightly  earlier  than  that  of  Bruges.  It  was  one  of 
Charlemagne's  naval  arsenals — the  other  being  Bou- 
logne— and  on  one  occasion  the  Norman  pirates  came 
up  the  Scheldt  in  their  light  draught  snekkars  and 
burnt  his  ships. 

If  the  erection  of  walls  was  the  first  step  in  the 

69 


70  BELGIUM 

growth  of  cities,  the  more  important  incident  in  the 
life  of  those  of  Flanders  was  the  establishment  of 
cloth  markets  in  or  about  the  year  960.  These  mar- 
kets were  established  round  the  principal  church,  and 
were  distinguished  by  the  name  Kerkmesse  (Kirk, 
church,  and  messe,  market).  The  word  soon  became 
"kermesse,"  and  is  still  in  use  as  the  popular  name  for 
a  Fair.  The  creation  of  all  Flemish  towns  was  marked 
by  three  phases.  The  building  of  a  church  was  the 
first  phase.  This  occurred,  as  a  rule,  in  the  seventh 
and  eighth  centuries.  The  next  was  the  construction 
of  a  wall  and  fortified  gates,  which  may  be  assigned  to 
the  ninth  century.  The  concluding  phase  was  the 
opening  of  the  cloth  markets  in  the  tenth  century. 
The  Flemish  people  thus  turned  at  an  earlier  period 
than  any  other  race  in  northern  Europe  from  agricul- 
ture to  industry. 

A  century  after  the  opening  of  the  cloth  markets, 
the  citizens  who  had  laid  the  basis  of  a  sound  and  ex- 
panding prosperity  began  to  talk  of  and  clamor  for 
their  rights.  Their  first  triumph  was  the  acquisition 
of  the  privilege  of  erecting  a  belfry  to  be  used  for  the 
purpose  of  summoning  the  citizens  to  public  meeting. 
Up  to  that  moment  the  only  bells  had  been  those  in 
the  churches,  and  the  acquisition  of  a  separate  belfry 
was  as  hard  to  win  as  it  was  highly  prized.  But  the 
first  distinct  civic  charter  was  granted  neither  to 
Bruges  nor  to  Ghent,  but  to  a  town  specially  created 
for  the  purpose  of  being  ruled  by  a  new  law  by  Bald- 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUGES  AND  GHENT  71 

win  VI  in  the  year  1068.  This  was  Grammont,  a  place 
which  otherwise  never  obtained  fame,  and  which  is  to- 
day a  town  of  the  fifth  order.  None  the  less  the 
Charter  of  Grammont  is  "the  most  ancient  written 
monument  of  civil  and  criminal  laws  in  Flanders."  It 
established  trial  by  jury,  it  exempted  the  citizens  from 
church  law  except  in  matters  of  religion,  and  it  intro- 
duced a  system  of  fines  in  lieu  of  the  almost  uniform 
death  sentence.  Bruges  and  Ghent  were  naturally  in- 
disposed to  leave  Grammont  a  monopoly  of  such  privi- 
leges. 

Having  won  their  charters  from  their  Counts,  the 
people  of  Bruges  and  their  allied  communes  were  in 
danger  of  losing  them  at  the  hands  of  the  French 
King,  who  invaded  and  occupied  a  great  part  of  Flan- 
ders in  the  first  year  of  the  fourteenth  century.  This 
foreign  occupation  did  not  last  long.  The  French 
garrison  was  massacred  during  what  was  known  as 
the  Bruges  Matins.  A  few  months  later  this  success 
was  completed  at  the  battle  of  Guinegate  or  "of  the 
spurs"  outside  Courtrai  on  July  11,  1302,  a  memorable 
date  in  the  history  of  Flanders.  Although  this  great 
victory  put  an  end  to  the  fear  of  a  French  conquest, 
it  was  followed  by  a  struggle  between  the  Counts  and 
the  communes  that  went  on  for  two  centuries,  and 
that  only  ended  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 

The  "heroic  epoch"  of  Flanders  reached  its  cul- 
minating point  with  the  Arteveldes.  The  elder,  James, 
was  not  merely  the  leading  tribune  of  Ghent,  but  he 


72  BELGIUM 

was  the  one  Belgian  who,  prior  to  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, might  be  called  a  great  national  statesman.  His 
conception  of  Flanders  was  that  of  a  great  "neutral 
state"  strong  enough  to  repel  all  assailants,  and  there- 
fore able  to  devote  its  attention  to  the  accumulation 
of  wealth  and  the  enjoyment  of  industrial  prosperity. 
To  accomplish  this  required  an  efficient  military  or- 
ganization and  the  expenditure  of  money.  His  views 
were  too  large  for  his  age.  He  was  accused  of  wast- 
ing the  public  treasure,  and  massacred  by  his  brother 
citizens.  Unwittingly  the  citizens  by  declining  to  fol- 
low a  national  policy,  had  struck  the  first  blow  at  the 
continuance  of  their  own  commercial  existence.  The 
result  proved  the  truth  of  the  saying  that  "a  house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  The  assassina- 
tion of  James  van  Artevelde  occurred  on  July  17, 
1345 ;  the  people  of  Ghent  expiated  their  crime  on 
November  27,  1382,  when  their  forces,  led  by  his  son 
Philip,  were  routed  on  the  field  of  Roosebeke  by  their 
Count  and  his  French  allies. 

The  highest  point  of  Bruges'  prosperity  was 
reached  soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  Burgun- 
dian  rule,  and  the  third  marriage  of  Duke  Philip  the 
Good  in  the  year  1430  may  be  fixed  upon  as  its  apogee. 
It  was  an  incident  of  special  interest  for  several  rea- 
sons. The  same  summer  witnessed  the  Duke's  capture 
of  Joan  of  Arc,  and  his  handing  her  over  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  Bishop  of  Beauvais,  and  also  the  found- 
ing of  the  most  famous  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece, 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUGES  AND  GHENT  73 

named  in  double  honor  of  the  mythological  quest,  and 
of  the  source  of  local  prosperity.  Philip's  third  bride 
was  Isabel  of  Portugal,  greatgranddaughter  of  John  of 
Gaunt,  and  she  became  the  mother  of  Charles  the  Bold. 
The  Duke  of  Bedford,  brother  of  Henry  V,  had  mar- 
ried Anne,  sister  of  Philip,  and  owing  to  English  de- 
feats it  had  been  arranged  that  Bedford  should  resign 
to  his  brother-in-law  the  Regency  of  France  which 
the  hero  of  Agincourt  had  placed  in  his  charge.  From 
many  points  of  view  the  occasion  was  a  memorable 
one,  but  the  one  fact  that  endured  longest  was  the 
creation  of  the  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece. 

There  seems  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  Golden 
Fleece  was  founded  by  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  out  of 
a  spirit  of  emulation.  He  was  a  Knight  of  the  Garter, 
established  by  Edward  III  three-quarters  of  a  century 
earlier,  and  he  resolved  to  have  his  own  Order  and  to 
endow  it  with  features  peculiar  to  himself.  The  Gar- 
ter was  a  chivalric  order  with  a  decoration  and  a 
badge ;  the  Fleece  was  a  distinct  power  in  the  land  with 
its  members  immune  from  the  general  law.  A  Knight 
of  the  Golden  Fleece  could  only  be  tried  by  the  Chap- 
ter of  his  order.  When  Alva  caused  Egmont  and 
Horn  to  be  executed,  the  worst  crime  he  committed 
in  the  eyes  of  many  was  in  violating  the  rules  of  the 
Order  to  which  he  also  belonged,  and  in  ignoring  the 
privileges  of  two  brother  Knights. 

The  Order  was  ostensibly  founded  in  honor  of  the 
new  bride,  and  so  intent  was  the  Duke  on  its  mainte- 


74  BELGIUM 

nance  that  lie  passed  on  its  wreretgnty  to  the  husband 
of  the  bit  heiress  of  his  family,  Tim  timely  pre- 
•deuce  fared  die  Order  from  extraction  on  more  than 
one  occasion.  The  nm  motto  chosen  for  die  Order 
wa§  essentially  applicable  to  the  marriage:  "Aultre 
tfaray,  Dame  Jsabeau  tant  que  vtvray"  As  it  waf  hit 
third  venture  in  the  matrimonial  lifts,  he  thought  it 
proper  to  pre  the  young  pr'mct**  tome  pledge,  but 
this  motto  was  not  long  m  use.  In  a  few  rears  it 
was  fttperfeded  by  the  motto  of  the  Borgtrndian  fam- 
ily, "/*  fay  etnprins"—"l  hare  undertaken."  The 
Order,  which  was  dedicated  to  the  Virgin  and  St 
Andrew,  the  patron  faint  of  Burgundy,  was  hunted 
to  the  sovereign  and  twenty- four  knights.  At  first  the 
archives  and  treasury  of  the  Order  were  preserved 
at  Bruges,  where  the  knight*  had  their  stalls  in  the 
Church  of  Notre  Dame ;  but  die  Archduke,  afterwards 
Emperor  Maximilian,  removed  them  to  Ste  Gudule  in 
Brussels,  When  the  French  Revolution  broke  out  they 
were  taken  for  safety  to  Vienna,  where  they  still  re- 
main. In  1725  the  Order  was  divided  into  two 
branches,  the  Golden  Fleece  of  Austria  and  the  Golden 
Fleece  of  Spam, 

The  marriage  of  Philip  the  Good  was  celebrated 
when  Bruges  was  at  its  prime,  A  century  earlier  a 
Queen  of  France  on  visiting  it  had  been  so  struck  by 
the  rich  costumes  of  its  ladies,  that  she  exclaimed,  "1 
thought  I  was  the  only  Queen  here,  but  1  see  a  thou- 
sand around  me."    At  that  time  Bruges  was  the  lead- 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUGES  AND  GHENT 

bag  financial  city  in  Western  Europe,  or  as  it  was  put 
in  those  days,  north  of  the  Alps.  The  prices  on  its 
OKhangc  ruled  thOM  e!>e\\  here,  [1  was  said  that  more 
trading  slupa  WCW  to  he  soon  in  its  harbor  at  ll.innic 
than  in  any  other  port  save  Venice.  The  Hansa,  Eng- 
lish, and  Italian  merchants  had  their  resident  agencies 
and  counting  houses.  But  a  great  national  disaster 
was  impending,  with  which  neither  the  skill  nor  the 
resources  of  the  men  of  the  age  could  cope. 

The  prosperity  of  Bruges  was  based  on  its  access 
to  the  sea,  but  even  at  the  moment  of  the  marriage 
fetes  it  was  known  that  the  navigable  channel  from 
the  sea  to  Damme  was  silting  up,  and  that  before  many 
more  years  had  passed  it  would  be  permanently  closed. 
This  stage  was  reached  in  the  year  1490.  The  Zwyn 
became  merged  in  that  tract  of  unfathomed  sand  ex- 
tending from  Knocke  to  Terneuzen,  which  represents 
the  Dutch  possessions  south  of  the  Scheldt  today.  The 
merchants  and  the  Guilds  left  the  thus  isolated  city, 
transferring  their  headquarters  to  Antwerp,  and 
Bruges  entered  upon  its  long  sleep  as  a  place  of  enter- 
prise. Only  in  the  twentieth  century  has  it  begun  to 
show  signs  of  returning  vitality  through  the  construc- 
tion of  the  ship  canal  that  connects  it  with  the  North 
Sea. 

The  prosperity  of  Ghent  rested  on  a  surer  basis 
than  that  of  Bruges,  or  perhaps  it  would  be  nearer 
the  truth  to  say  that  it  was  less  dependent  on  the  co- 
operation of  foreigners.     The  decline  of  Bruges  in- 


76  BELGIUM 

creased  the  importance  of  Ghent,  which  was  for  a 
century  after  the  marriage  of  Philip  the  Good,  the 
center  of  the  political  life  of  Flanders.  It  carried  on 
a  fierce  struggle  for  its  constitutional  rights  during 
that  period,  and  it  was  only  when  the  Emperor  Charles 
V,  banding  together  all  the  forces  at  his  disposal, 
came  down  upon  it  with  heavy  hand  in  1540,  and  im- 
posed his  memorable  chastisement,  that  it  succumbed. 
Some  idea  of  the  stubborn  and  never- failing  cour- 
age of  the  people  of  Ghent  during  the  last  century  of 
its  existence  as  a  political  entity  may  be  formed  from 
a  brief  summary  of  the  events  that  preceded  the  final 
humiliation  in  1540.  The  story  commences  in  1453 
with  the  terrible  battle  of  Gavre — "the  red  sea  of 
Gavre" — when  twenty  thousand  citizens  were  slain. 
Philip  the  Good  seemed  touched  by  the  slaughter,  for 
he  exclaimed,  "These  were  my  subjects/'  but  none  the 
less  he  hung  all  his  prisoners,  including  some  English 
archers,  who  were  hoisted  to  the  loftiest  trees.  Among 
the  penalties  imposed  were  the  imposition  of  a  heavy 
fine,  and  the  suppression  of  the  trained  bands  of  the 
guilds  known  as  the  White  Hoods.  Yet,  in  1467, 
Charles  the  Bold,  in  the  midst  of  a  turbulent  populace 
uttering  threats  on  the  very  day  of  his  inauguration 
as  Count  of  Flanders,  found  himself  obliged  to  restore 
all  the  privileges  his  father  had  confiscated  fourteen 
years  before.  "Wait  ten  years,"  he  exclaimed,  "and 
we  shall  see  who  is  master."  Ten  years  later  he  fell  in 
the  battle  of  Nancy. 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUGES  AND  GHENT  77 

His  successor,  his  only  child  and  daughter,  Mary 
of  Burgundy,  was  left  face  to  face  with  the  citizens, 
who  took  full  advantage  of  her  troubles.  Before  they 
would  allow  her  to  be  proclaimed  they  compelled  her 
to  sign  a  new  charter  embodying  all  the  old  privileges. 
Then  only  would  they  permit  her  to  ring  the  .bell 
known  as  Roland.  Nor  were  the  citizens  satisfied  un- 
til they  had  executed  the  principal  ministers  of  their 
last  Duke.  The  atrocities  of  the  individual  ruler  are 
treasured  up  by  the  historian,  those  of  the  masses  or 
the  mob  are  consigned  to  an  indulgent  oblivion. 

What  the  citizens  of  Ghent  wrested  from  the  last 
Duchess  of  Burgundy  they  kept  under  her  youthful 
son,  Philip  the  Fair.  They  held  him  as  a  hostage 
against  his  father,  the  Archduke  Maximilian,  who 
overran  much  of  the  Provinces  with  a  German  army. 
One  of  the  incidents  of  the  struggle  was  when  the 
citizens  of  Bruges  locked  Maximilian  up  in  the 
Craenenburg,  and  kept  him  there  for  three  months. 
He  was  only  released  on  giving  his  promise  by  oath 
to  abstain  from  further  interference  in  the  govern- 
ment, and  to  leave  his  son  in  the  hands  of  the  Flem- 
ings. It  is  not  surprising  that  Maximilian  took  the 
oath  to  recover  his  freedom,  but  it  is  surprising  that 
he  was  believed.  No  sooner  had  he  got  to  a  safe  dis- 
tance than  he  repudiated  his  promises,  and  he  re- 
turned in  a  few  months  with  a  large  German  army  to 
besiege  Ghent,  which  had  thrown  in  its  fortunes  with 
Bruges. 


78  BELGIUM 

This  was  the  turning-point  in  the  history  of  the 
great  Flemish  communes.  In  bad  as  in  good  fortune 
they  had  up  to  this  managed  to  hold  their  own  in  the 
struggle  with  their  feudal  and  hereditary  rulers.  But 
they  were  now  confronted  by  a  more  formidable  mas- 
ter, who  had  behind  him  the  big  battalions  of  the 
German  Empire.  The  citizens  did  not  appreciate  the 
change  until  it  was  too  late.  Bruges  and  Ghent  were 
compelled  to  pay  enormous  fines,  and  by  the  treaties 
of  Damme  and  Cadzand  they  surrendered  their  privi- 
leges. The  wounded  dignity  of  Maximilian  for  his 
imprisonment  was  further  appeased  by  the  execution 
of  a  considerable  number  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the 
two   cities. 

Such  was  the  situation  at  the  dawn  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  when  the  citizens  of  Ghent,  laving  aside  their 
political  ambitions,  applied  themselves  to  the  develop- 
ment of  their  trade  and  industry.  The  pacific  rule  of 
Margaret  of  Austria,  sister  of  Philip  the  Fair,  acting 
in  the  name  of  her  young  nephew  who  became  Charles 
V,  was  highly  favorable  to  their  designs,  and  it  was 
freely  said  that  the  prosperity  of  Ghent  had  never 
been  greater  than  it  was  in  the  first  half  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  In  the  hour  of  their  greatest  prosper- 
ity the  people  of  Ghent  brought  down  upon  themselves 
the  wrath  and  punishment  of  their  prince.  Some  con- 
temporary writers  declared  that  there  had  been  a  decay 
in  the  manners  and  character  of  the  citizens — one  of 
them  wrote:   "The  old  represent  that  everything  is 


THE  STORY  OF  BRUGES  AND  GHENT  79 

changed  in  the  customs  of  our  citizens,  and  they  com- 
plain that  instead  of  simple,  frank,  loyal,  courageous, 
robust,  and  tall  men  a  generation  has  succeeded  cor- 
rupted by  vice,  idleness,  ambition,  and  pride." 

In  1536  the  Emperor,  for  the  purposes  of  war 
with  France,  demanded  a  subsidy  from  Flanders,  and 
the  city  of  Ghent  was  called  upon  to  provide  a  third 
of  the  total.  The  citizens  refused  to  pay,  and  finding 
that  the  prince  had  no  available  means  to  compel  them 
to  do  so,  they  grew  defiant.  They  formed  an  associa- 
tion among  themselves  to  carry  on  the  government  of 
their  city,  and  they  invited  Francis  of  France  to  aid 
them  against  their  liege  lord.  Unfortunately  for  them 
that  monarch  had  just  signed  a  ten  years'  peace  with 
his  old  rival,  and  he  dismissed  their  envoys  with  cold 
comfort.  Still  the  citizens  were  full  of  confidence  in 
themselves,  and  to  show  their  contempt  for  the  Em- 
peror they  executed  his  chief  representative,  Lieven 
Pym,  who  told  them  with  his  dying  breath  they  would 
be  sorry  when  "too  late."  They  acted  thus  recklessly 
in  the  belief  that  as  the  Emperor  was  in  Spain,  and 
had  many  things  to  attend  to,  it  would  certainly  be  a 
long  time  before  he  could  think  of  them. 

All  their  expectations  were  falsified  by  the  act  of 
the  French  King,  who  sent  Charles  a  pressing  invita- 
tion to  travel  through  France  so  that  he  might  be  able 
to  promptly  chastise  his  mutinous  subjects.  The  offer, 
unusual  in  those  days,  was  accepted,  and  in  February, 
1540,  Charles  appeared  before  Ghent  at  the  head  of  a 


80  BELGIUM 

chosen  army.  Resistance  would  have  been  futile; 
none  was  attempted.  Having  occupied  the  city  with 
his  troops,  Charles  made  a  solemn  entry  at  the  head 
of  his  generals  and  courtiers.  A  formal  indictment 
was  drafted,  and  Ghent  was  placed  on  its  trial.  The 
verdict  was  delivered  with  all  the  proper  observances, 
and  after  due  deliberation  the  Emperor  solemnly  rati- 
fied it.  Seven — not  nineteen,  as  Motley  says — of  the 
men  who  judicially  murdered  Lieven  Pym  were  exe- 
cuted, but  that  was  the  full  extent  of  the  bloodshed. 
The  Emperor's  sentence  was  directed  against  institu- 
tions and  not  men — but  in  its  way  it  could  not  have 
been  more  severe.  The  sentence  began  by  depriving 
the  town  "body  and  community"  of  all  its  privileges 
in  perpetuity.  It  was  deprived  of  municipal  govern- 
ment, and  the  guilds  as  well  as  the  city  lost  their 
charters.  All  sheriffs  and  magistrates  were  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  Emperor  alone.  Public  property,  in- 
cluding artillery,  was  to  be  ceded  to  the  Emperor,  and 
the  famous  Roland,  which  had  so  often  given  tongue 
to  the  discontent  of  the  land,  and  summoned  the  people 
to  arms,  was  cast  down  and  sentenced  to  eternal  si- 
lence. In  addition,  the  city  had  to  pay  not  only  the 
refused  subsidy,  but  a  heavy  fine.  Finally,  the  chief 
citizens  had  to  make  humble  penitence  in  their  shirts 
barefooted,  and  with  halters  round  their  necks.  Thus, 
after  five  centuries,  ended  the  special  privileges  and 
political  importance  of  Ghent,  the  city  associated  in 
the  English  mind  with  the  names  of  James  van  Arte- 
velde  and  John  of  Gaunt. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   STORY   OF   LIEGE 

AT  many  periods,  notably  during  the  troubles  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  Liege  lay  outside  the  gen- 
eral stream  of  Belgian  life,  and  enjoyed  an  independ- 
ent existence.  The  separate  story  of  the  Liege  prin- 
cipality is  certainly  the  least-known  part  of  Belgian 
history,  and  no  doubt  this  is  to  be  attributed  to  the 
fact  that  in  the  Middle  Ages  events  in  Flanders  and 
Brabant  had  rarely  any  influence  on  the  future  of 
Liege.  It  was  the  one  division  of  Belgium  not  in- 
cluded in  the  Burgundian  Union.  The  single  incident 
of  the  capture  of  the  city  by  Charles  the  Bold,  told  by 
Scott  in  "Quentin  Durward"  with  magnificently  auda- 
cious plagiarism  from  the  pages  of  Commines,  prob- 
ably exhausts  the  ordinary  reader's  knowledge  of  a 
State  which  existed  for  the  better  part  of  a  thousand 
years. 

In  the  tenth  century  a  great  prelate,  equally  ener- 
getic as  social  reformer  and  as  curber  of  the  feudal 
barons  for  the  exaltation  of  the  Church,  founded  the 
clerical  State  which  existed  more  or  less  separately 
from  its  neighbors  down  to  the  French  Revolution. 
It  was  long  a  saying  among  its  people:  "Liege  owes 
Notger  to  Christ,  and  everything  else  to   Notger." 

81 


82  BELGIUM 

But  three  centuries  before  Notger,  Liege  was  the 
capital  of  the  Dukes  of  Austria,  and  Charlemagne  was 
the  first  to  transfer  it  to  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Once  established  in  the  seat  of  authority,  the  bish- 
ops showed  their  capacity  for  administration.  Ani- 
mated by  a  single  purpose,  free  of  the  petty  rivalries 
which  were  the  bane  of  the  feudal  system,  they  car- 
ried on  a  deliberate  and  continuous  policy.  What  one 
bishop  left  half  done  his  successor  completed,  and  the 
Bishopric  of  Liege,  which  had  been  regarded  as  a  place 
of  retreat  for  penitent  or  invalid  Austrian  dukes,  soon 
became  a  power  in  the  land.  Indeed,  at  the  dawn  of 
the  twelfth  century  it  looked  quite  possible  that  the 
whole  of  Belgium  might  fall  into  its  sphere. 

The  Crusades  gave  the  bishops  a  favorable  chance 
of  aggrandizement,  and  they  availed  themselves  of  it. 
For  that  remote  expedition  money  was  necessary,  and 
as  the  laws  forbade  the  ordinary  citizen  from  dealing 
in  money  which  was  restricted  to  Lombards  and  Jews, 
there  was  none  available  among  the  classes  from  which 
the  expeditions  were  drawn.  But  the  Church  was  in- 
dependent of  the  law — or  rather  its  law  was  supreme 
— and  in  its  hands  the  gifts  of  many  generations  of 
pious  donors  had  accumulated.  It  had  become  the 
great  if  not  the  only  capitalist. 

The  sinews  of  war  for  the  first  and  second  Cru- 
sades were  provided  then  by  the  Church,  and  by  no 
branch  of  that  great  organization  more  largely  than  by 
the  Bishopric  of  Liege.     But  it  has  never  been  the 


THE  STORY  OF  LIEGE  83 

practice  of  men,  whether  marked  by  a  tonsure  or  not, 
to  give  without  receiving  an  equivalent.  The  bishops 
helped  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  to  equip  his  forces,  but 
they  took  from  him  his  castle  and  the  feudal  rights  he 
enjoyed  as  Marquis  of  Antwerp  and  Lord  of  Malines. 
They  also  helped  the  Count  of  Hainaut,  but  it  was  at 
the  price  of  his  placing  his  county  under  the  suzer- 
ainty of  Liege.  But  powerful  as  was  the  Bishop  of 
Liege,  he  was  not  powerful  enough  to  stand  alone. 
He  had  to  lean  on  somebody,  and  Notger's  successor 
at  the  dawn  of  the  eleventh  century  had  been  pro- 
claimed Prince  of  the  Empire  on  recognizing  the  tem- 
poral sovereignty  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany.  The 
aggrandizement,  therefore,  of  the  bishopric  entailed 
an  extension  of  German  influence,  but  ultimately  Liege 
became  the  least  German  and  most  intensely  French 
of  all  the  divisions  of  Belgium.  This  characteristic 
was  never  more  noticeable  than  it  is  today. 

The  triumph  of  the  bishops  over  the  nobles  has 
been  noted ;  there  remains  now  to  summarize  the  long 
struggle  for  power  between  the  bishops  and  the  peo- 
ple. It  must,  however,  be  recorded  that  the  first  popu- 
lar rights  and  privileges  at  Liege  were  conferred  by 
the  Bishop  on  the  people.  These  were  embodied  in 
the  famous  "tribunal  of  peace"  which  formed  the 
charter  of  the  citizens  of  Liege  for  over  four  cen- 
turies. This  Court  sat  in  the  Cathedral,  the  burgesses 
beside  the  Bishop,  and  dispensed  summary  justice  on 


84  BELGIUM 

all  alike  —  only  priests  and  princes  being  exempted 
from  its  jurisdiction. 

As  a  court  of  law  the  Peace  tribunal  answered  its 
purpose  very  well,  but  the  growth  of  civic  liberty  and 
rights  could  not  be  restrained.  The  guilds  and  cor- 
porations took  on  themselves  more  and  more  the  func- 
tions of  political  power,  and  the  clerical  position  was 
sometimes  weakened  by  the  tyranny  of  a  bad  bishop 
like  Henry  of  Gueldres. 

The  citizens  aimed  chiefly,  however,  at  the  over- 
throw, not  of  the  Bishop,  but  of  the  aristocratic  fami- 
lies who  had  seized  all  the  civic  posts  and  made  them 
hereditary,  and  in  the  struggle  the  Bishop  often  sided 
with  the  people.  It  reached  a  crisis  in  the  year  1312 
when,  on  the  death  of  the  Bishop,  the  nobles  chose 
one  regent  and  the  citizens  another.  Five  hundred 
armed  nobles  entered  the  city  hoping  to  carry  all  be- 
fore them.  Instead  they  were  vanquished  by  the  su- 
perior numbers  of  the  citizens,  driven  into  the  ancient 
church  of  St.  Martin,  and  destroyed  with  the  sacred 
edifice  by  fire.  A  new  law  was  made  to  the  effect  that 
all  city  officers  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  people  from 
the  people. 

The  peace  of  Fexhe  (1315)  embodied  this  and 
much  more  in  its  articles.  It  prescribed  an  appeal  to 
the  people  in  the  event  of  any  serious  difference  or 
doubt,  and  was  long  known  as  the  great  charter  of 
Liege.  Speaking  of  this  period,  M.  de  Villenfagne, 
the  historian  of  Walloon  Belgium,  has  written:  "The 


THE  STORY  OF  LIEGE  85 

principality  of  Liege,  comprising  Condroz,  Hesbaye 
the  countdom  of  Looz,  the  marquisate  of  Franchimont, 
the  lordship  of  Bouillon,  and  of  the  territory  between 
the  Sambre  and  Meuse,  formed  at  this  time  (1390)  a 
sort  of  Federal  Republic.  The  ruling  power  having 
belonged  first  to  the  aristocracy  and  then  to  the  Bishop, 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  people  as  represented  by 
the  three  Estates  of  the  country." 

Having  gained  all  the  privileges  of  a  free  city,  the 
people  of  Liege  became  arrogant,  and  thought  they 
could  defy  the  House  of  Burgundy  which  had  just 
welded  the  whole  of  Belgium,  with  the  exception  of 
the  part  subject  to  Liege  itself,  into  a  united  State, 
including  Holland  and  a  large  part  of  northern  and 
eastern  France  as  well.  The  power  of  the  Government 
as  represented  by  the  Duke  had  never  been  so  pre- 
ponderant, and  Liege  should  have  taken  warning  from 
the  recent  fate  of  Ghent  at  the  battle  of  Gavre.  Un- 
fortunately for  them  the  citizens  were  rather  carried 
away  by  the  belief  that  French  aid  would  be  forth- 
coming, and,  therefore,  their  replies  to  Philip  the  Good 
and  his  son  Charles  the  Bold  were  couched  in  haughty 
and  defiant  language.  Even  a  minor  defeat  at  Morte- 
naeken  in  1465  did  not  bring  them  to  their  senses,  and 
when  the  real  struggle  began  in  the  following  year, 
the  citizens  were  still  sanguine  of  success.  The  first 
incident  of  this  was  the  siege  and  capture  of  Dinant, 
where  a  population  numbering  60,000  was  wiped  out. 


86  BELGIUM 

In  the  following  year  Liege,  after  one  defeat  in  the 
field,  signed  an  ignominious  treaty  recognizing  the  su- 
premacy of  the  Duke  by  allowing  his  representative  to 
reside  in  the  city.  But  this  humility  was  assumed,  for 
in  1468  they  again  defied  him  and  imprisoned  his  rep- 
resentative. The  incident  occurred,  as  described  in 
"Quentin  Durward,"  while  Louis  XI  was  the  guest  of 
Charles  the  Bold  at  Peronne.  Louis,  to  save  his  life, 
agreed  to  accompany  Charles  on  his  expedition  of  pun- 
ishment, and  was  present  at  the  capture  and  sack  of 
Liege  when  40,000  of  the  citizens  are  said  to  have  been 
slaughtered,  many  of  the  women  being  thrown  into 
the  Meuse  from  the  Bridge  of  Arches.  It  is  declared 
that  every  building  was  demolished  with  the  exception 
of  the  churches  and  convents.  Finally  the  city  made 
"renunciation  for  all  its  liberties"  by  a  humble  dele- 
gation of  its  chief  citizens  to  Brussels.  Thus  was  an 
end  put  to  the  rule  of  the  citizens  of  Liege,  which  a 
little  earlier  had  been  called  a  "Federal  Republic." 

Soon  after  these  events  evil  days  fell  on  Burgundy. 
Granson,  Morat,  and  Nancy  followed  in  quick  succes- 
sion, and  the  dream  of  founding  a  third  kingdom  in 
northwest  Europe  that  should  be  the  equal  of  France 
crumbled  in  the  dust.  The  power  of  the  Bishop  of 
Liege  revived.  Louis  of  Bourbon,  supported  by  the 
Pope,  succeeded  in  restoring  some  order  to  the  city's 
affairs,  and  might  have  done  better  if  he  had  not  been 
assassinated  by  William  de  la  Marck,  'the  wild  boar 
of  the  Ardennes."     During  the  reign  of  Charles  V 


THE  STORY  OF  LIEGE  87 

Liege  did  not  assert  itself,  but  prosperity  was  gradu- 
ally returning,  and  the  city  succeeded  in  keeping  the 
combattants  during  the  religious  wars  outside  its  boun- 
daries. When  Alva  and  William  the  Silent  were  com- 
ing to  close  quarters  in  the  Meuse  Valley,  Bishop 
Groesbeck  maintained  his  neutrality  by  warning  off 
the  belligerents. 

As  time  went  on  Groesbeck's  successors,  who  were 
chiefly  Bavarian  princes,  experienced  increasing  diffi- 
culty with  the  citizens  who,  having  secured  the  nom- 
inal revival  of  the  old  charters,  sought  to  give  them 
their  full  ancient  significance.  More  especially  did 
they  claim  that  all  the  city  affairs  should  be  controlled 
by  the  council  of  "thirty-two,"  to  which  the  the  bur- 
gesses elected  twenty-six  and  the  Bishop  only  six  mem- 
bers. One  of  the  striking  episodes  of  this  struggle 
was  the  assassination  of  La  Ruelle,  the  burgomaster 
and  a  friend  of  the  French  connection.  He  was  be- 
trayed by  a  fellow-plotter,  the  Count  de  Warfusee,  who 
did  not  benefit  by  his  treachery,  for  he  was  torn  in 
pieces  by  the  people  of  Liege  as  soon  as  they  discov- 
ered his  crime.  The  Bishop  then  invoked  the  Em- 
peror's aid  and  a  large  German  force  captured  the 
city.  The  burgomasters  and  many  of  their  colleagues 
were  executed  in  front  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  It  was 
then  that  the  Bishop  caused  the  Citadel  to  be  built  on 
the  summit  of  St.  Walburga's  Mountain. 

From  time  to  time  the  citizens  had  expressed  sym- 
pathy with  France.    This  was  much  diminished  by  the 


88  BELGIUM 

exactions  of  the  French  army,  which  occupied  Liege 
from  1670  to  1676.  On  leaving,  they  destroyed  the 
citadel,  and  the  citizens  believing  that  with  it  had  also 
disappeared  the  Bishop's  power,  resumed  their  rights. 
This  step  proved  more  than  ever  disastrous.  The 
Emperor  lent  the  Bishop  an  army  to  recover  his  posi- 
tion. Such  resistance  as  the  citizens  attempted  was 
easily  overcome,  and  their  leaders  were  executed  on 
the  public  place.  The  old  charters  were  cancelled,  all 
political  power  was  revoked  from  the  guilds,  which 
became  simply  artistic  or  industrial  associations.  To 
further  consolidate  the  Bishop's  power,  the  Citadel 
was  to  be  rebuilt,  and  a  new  fort  constructed  half  way 
across  the  Bridge  of  Arches.  It  was  not  many  years 
after  this  event  that  an  English  army  under  Marl- 
borough attacked  and  captured  the  citadel,  but  the 
English  troops  did  not  occupy  the  city. 

At  the  end  of  another  century  Liege  witnessed  a 
fresh  attempt  by  the  people  to  recover  their  rights, 
and  it  had  rather  a  curious  origin.  A  dispute  as  to  the 
distribution  of  the  profits  of  the  Spa  gambling  tables 
ended  in  the  citizens  naming  two  of  their  order  as 
Chief  Magistrates,  and  in  the  flight  of  Bishop  Hoens- 
broeck  to  Treves.  The  citizens  claimed  a  free  national 
assembly,  but  the  German  Court  of  Wetzlar  ordered 
them  to  return  to  their  obedience,  and  sent  a  German 
army  to  enforce  it.  On  this  occasion  the  triumph  of 
the  Bishop  by  the  aid  of  German  arms  was  not  long- 
lived.    But  a  few  months  later  the  French  overrun  and 


THE  STORY  OF  LIEGE  89 

conquered  Belgium.  For  over  twenty  years  Liege 
formed  part  of  France;  indeed  the  connection  only 
terminated  with  the  arrival  of  a  Prussian  force  in 
January,  1814.  After  Napoleon's  escape  from  Elba, 
Blucher  made  his  headquarters  at  Liege  during  the 
spring  of  1815,  and  it  was  there  that  he  narrowly  es- 
caped being  shot  at  the  hands  of  some  mutinous  Saxon 
soldiers,  by  jumping  out  of  the  window  of  his  hotel. 
Whatever  else  it  had  failed  to  do,  the  French  Revo- 
lution certainly  killed  the  Prince  Bishopric  of  Liege. 
It  had  found  it  a  sort  of  Power  in  Europe,  it  left  it 
without  any  prospect  of  revival.  Europe  then  placed 
Liege  in  the  hands  of  the  King  of  the  Netherlands 
with  the  rest  of  Belgium. 

The  people  of  Liege  contributed  to  the  success  of 
the  Belgian  revolution  of  1830  more  than  any  other 
city  excepting  Brussels.  They  had  fought  for  cen- 
turies for  civic  rights,  they  now  had  the  chance  of 
fighting  for  national  independence,  and  they  took  it. 
Without  any  outside  assistance  they  captured  from 
the  Dutch  garrisons  the  Citadel  and  the  Chartreuse 
fort.  They  sent  to  Brussels  the  Volunteer  Battalion 
which  distinguished  itself  in  the  four  days'  fighting 
with  the  Dutch  army  in  the  Park.  Finally,  they  fur- 
nished three  of  the  heroes  of  the  whole  movement, 
Charles  Rogier,  Joseph  Lebeau,  and  "the  wooden- 
legged  gunner,"  Charlier. 

There  is  one  little  matter  affecting  the  name  of  the 
place  that  may  be  dealt  with  here  in  a  few  lines.    The 


90  BELGIUM 

accenting  of  the  "e"  in  the  name  has  given  rise  to  a 
considerable  diversity  of  practice,  and  whether  because 
it  is  easier  to  be  wrong  than  to  be  right,  the  erroneous 
practice  has  prevailed.  It  has  been  the  universal  prac- 
tice in  England  to  mark  the  "e"  with  the  accent 
"grave,"  thus,  Liege.  In  former  days  many  French 
writers  did  so,  and  some  Belgians.  It  is  just  to  Bouil- 
let,  Littre,  and  other  sound  etymologists  to  say  that 
they  did  not  fall  into  the  error.  They  give  it  correctly 
with  the  accent  aigu  as  Liege.  Now  what  is  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  difference  for  the  ordinary  reader  ?  It 
is  simply  that  the  correct  pronunciation  is  as  two 
clearly  distinct  syllables  —  "Lee-aje."  This  approxi- 
mates most  nearly  to  the  Walloon  (the  local  dialect) 
name,  which  is  "Le-ege." 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  BELGIAN   CONSTITUTION 

SOME  dates  and  facts  as  to  the  way  in  which  the 
Belgian  Constitution  was  drafted  and  passed  into 
law  will  be  of  use  to  the  general  reader. 

In  1815  the  Vienna  Congress  declared  that  the 
South  or  old  Spanish  Netherlands  were  to  be  joined 
to  Holland,  and  to  form  the  Kingdom  of  the  United 
Netherlands  under  the  sovereign  rule  of  the  House 
of  Orange  Nassau.  This  union  lasted  for  fifteen  years. 
Various  grievances  developed  during  that  period,  and 
the  Belgians  considered  that  they  were  treated  with 
some  harshness  by  the  Dutch.  The  French  Revolution 
of  July,  1830,  when  the  absolutist  Bourbon  monarchy 
was  superseded  by  the  constitutional  Orleanist  regime, 
greatly  increased  the  confidence  of  the  Belgians  in 
themselves  and  their  cause  by  leading  them  to  think 
that  the  French  nation  would  sympathize  with  and  sec- 
ond their  efforts  to  achieve  their  own  independence. 
The  first  disturbance  occurred  in  Brussels  during  the 
night  of  August  25-26,  1830,  after  a  performance  at 
the  opera  of  the  "Muett  de  Portia,"  when  Massaniel- 
lo's  appeal  for  the  emancipation  of  his  country  in- 
flamed the  audience  and  set  fire  to  the  aspirations  of 
the  public.     Opinions  differ  as  to  whether  the  scene 

91 


92  BELGIUM 

had  been  carefully  prepared,  or  whether  it  was  one  of 
those  impromptus  that  constitute  the  eternal  fitness  of 
things.  At  any  rate,  the  night  was  passed  in  plunder- 
ing and  destroying  the  houses  of  some  of  the  Min- 
isters and  others  identified  in  the  public  mind  with  the 
Dutch  regime.     The  Belgian  revolution  then  began. 

Its  second  and  more  important  phase  covered  the 
four  days,  September  23-26.  The  Dutch  decided  to 
recover  Brussels  by  force,  and  sent  an  army  to  cap- 
ture it.  The  troops  succeeded  after  some  severe  street 
fighting  in  reaching  the  Park  facing  the  Royal  Palace, 
but  they  had  marched  into  a  trap.  Instead  of  crush- 
ing the  citizens  and  recovering  the  city,  they  found 
themselves  besieged  in  the  Park,  and  more  or  less  cut 
off  from  their  communications.  The  incidents  of  the 
fighting  that  went  on  for  four  days  showed  that  regu- 
lar troops  have  little  superiority  over  armed  citizens 
in  street  fighting,  and  on  September  26  the  Dutch  ex- 
tricated themselves  from  their  false  position  by  re- 
treating during  the  night,  leaving  however,  1,500 
killed  behind  them.  The  Belgian  revolution,  which 
most  observers  outside  the  country  had  affected  to 
regard  as  of  trivial  moment,  then  became  a  matter  of 
European  importance. 

A  week  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  Dutch  troops 
the  Provisional  Government  which  had  been  carrying 
on  the  administration  in  Brussels,  issued  the  Decree 
of  Independence.     Its  terms  deserve  quotation: 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION  93 

"Art  I.  The  province  of  Belgium  detached  by 
force  from  Holland  shall  constitute  an  Independent 
State. 

"Art.  II.  The  Central  Committee  will  occupy  it- 
self as  soon  as  possible  with  the  draft  of  a  Constitu- 
tion. 

"Art.  III.  A  National  Congress  representing  all 
the  interests  of  the  Provinces  shall  be  convoked.  It 
will  examine  the  bill  drafted  for  a  Belgian  Constitu- 
tion, modify  it  as  it  thinks  proper,  and  then  will  make 
it  the  definitive  Constitution  of  force  throughout  Bel- 
gium." 

The  drafting  of  the  Constitution  was  entrusted  to 
a  special  commission,  and  at  its  first  meeting  the  im- 
portant question  was  raised  and  decided  as  to  the  form 
the  new  government  should  take.  There  had  been 
some  irresponsible  talk  of  creating  a  Belgian  Republic. 
The  commission  decided  that  the  government  should 
be  a  hereditary  constitutional  monarchy,  and  when  the 
point  was  raised  before  the  National  Congress  some 
weeks  later,  it  was  promptly  decided  in  the  same  sense. 

The  commission  took  three  months  in  accomplish- 
ing its  task,  and  at  the  end  of  January,  1831,  it  pre- 
sented the  Congress  with  the  draft  of  a  Constitution 
consisting  of  139  Articles.  As  the  Congress  had  dis- 
cussed and  decided  what  may  be  called  the  vital  prin- 
ciples underlying  the  Articles  of  the  Constitution  con- 
currently with  the  labors  of  the  commission,  the  draft 
bill  did  not  require  alteration,  and  after  a  week's 
formal  discussion  it  was  passed  into  law  on  February  7. 


94  BELGIUM 

The  Constitution  bill  contained  139  Articles,  one  of 
which  (No.  31)  provided  for  the  right  to  revise  it 
should  a  future  occasion  arise  to  make  it  desirable  or 
necessary.  Having  denned  the  character  of  the  mon- 
archy to  be  established,  and  the  administrative  divi- 
sions of  the  kingdom  which  by  ancient  tradition  con- 
tained nine  provinces,  the  law  proceeded  to  set  forth 
the  constitutional  functions  of  the  respective  powers 
in  the  State.  The  King  was  relieved  of  responsibility 
by  the  simple  regulation  that  all  his  acts  had  to  be 
countersigned  by  one  of  his  ministers,  who  thereby 
became  responsible  for  what  was  done.  The  King  had, 
however,  one  or  two  privileges  that  do  not  fall,  as  a 
rule,  to  the  constitutional  monarch.  He  could  dis- 
solve the  Chambers,  and  he  could  also  initiate  legisla- 
tion by  decreeing  that  a  draft  bill  (projet  de  hi) 
should  be  prepared  on  any  specific  matter  of  an  urgent 
character.  The  King  was  also  declared  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  the  latter  of  which  dTd 
not  and  does  not  yet  exist.  When  Leopold  I  read  the 
constitution  law  through  before  accepting  the  crown, 
he  made  the  caustic  remark:  "You  seem  to  have  left 
your  King  very  little  to  do." 

The  executive  and  legislative  powers  in  the  State 
were  divided  between  the  King,  the  Chamber  of  "Rep- 
resentatives, and  the  Senate.  The  Chamber  of  Rep- 
resentatives originally  consisted  qf  102  members 
chosen  by  the  duly  qualified  electors  of  the  country, 
who,  until  1894,  were  few  in  number.     In  that  year 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION  95 

the  Representatives  had  increased  to  152.  A  general 
election  had  to  be  held  every  four  years,  and  at  the 
end  of  two  years  half  the  members  had  to  seek  re- 
election. Of  course,  Ministers  had  the  right,  in  com- 
mon with  the  King,  of  dissolving  the  Parliament  at 
any  time  and  appealing  to  the  country,  but  the  right 
has  been  very  sparingly  used.  Members  of  the  Cham- 
ber must  be  not  less  than  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and 
since  1894  they  have  been  paid  a  salary  of  $800 
on  the  stipulation  of  regular  attendance.  They  are 
also  furnished  with  a  free  railway  pass  from  the  seat 
of  their  constituency  to  the  capital. 

The  strength  of  the  Senate  or  Second  Chamber 
was  originally  fixed  at  fifty-one  members,  but  in  1893 
the  total  was  raised  to  102,  seventy-six  being  elected 
by  the  qualified  electors,  and  twenty-six  being  nomi- 
nated by  the  Provincial  Councils.  A  senator  sits  for 
eight  years.  He  receives  no  payment,  and  no  one  is 
eligible  for  a  seat  in  the  Upper  House  under  the  age 
of  forty.  It  may  be  mentioned,  as  a  distinctive  feature 
of  the  Belgian  system,  that  Ministers  who  may  be 
taken  indiscriminately  from  either  the  Senate  or  the 
Chamber  of  Representatives,  have  the  right  of  speak- 
ing in  both  Houses  as  occasion  may  arise.  The  King's 
sons  or  other  Princes  of  the  Royal  Family  become  by 
right  members  of  the  Senate  on  reaching  the  age  of 
eighteen,  but  they  have  no  vote  until  they  are  twenty- 
five  years  old.  A  bill  must  be  approved  of  by  both 
Houses  before  it  can  be  submitted  to  the  King  for  the 


96  BELGIUM 

necessary  Royal  decree  to  make  it  law.  Consequently, 
the  possibility  of  an  unseemly  collision  between  the 
two  Chambers  in  so  far  as  it  would  threaten  to  in- 
volve the  name  or  person  of  the  King  is  eliminated 
by  the  Belgian  constitution.  No  Belgian  minister 
could  talk  of  inviting  or  compelling  the  Sovereign  to 
be  the  ally  or  tool  of  the  Lower  House  in  coercing  the 
Upper,  and  a  proposal  to  flood  an  ancient  Chamber 
with  new  immigrants  would  be  derisive  when  the  total 
number  of  occupants  is  fixed  by  law.  There  are  some 
good  points  to  be  borrowed  from  the  young  Belgian 
constitution. 

At  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  constitution  into 
law,  in  February,  1831,  no  sovereign  had  been  selected 
for  the  Belgian  throne.  Five  months  later  Prince  Leo- 
pold of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  was  inaugurated  as  King 
of  the  Belgians  in  Brussels,  thus  founding  the  Coburg 
dynasty  which  still  occupies  the  throne.  The  consti- 
tution provided  that  the  crown  was  to  be  vested  in  the 
male  line  to  the  perpetual  exclusion  of  females,  but  in 
the  event  of  the  failure  of  all  male  heirs  the  King  was 
to  have  the  right  of  nominating  his  successor  with  the 
consent  of  the  Chambers.  Should  he  not  have  made 
such  a  nomination,  the  throne  would  be  "declared  va- 
cant" on  his  death,  and  the  Chambers  elected  in 
double  strength  for  the  occasion  would  then  proceed 
to  elect  a  new  ruler. 

At  one  period  it  seemed  not  impossible  that  such 
an  occasion  might  arise.     Leopold  I,  who  at  the  time 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION  97 

of  his  accession  was  a  widower  (having  married  in 
1816  the  Princess  Charlotte  of  England,  who  died  in 
childbirth  the  following  year),  married  in  1832  the 
Princess  Louise  of  Orleans,  daughter  of  Louis 
Philippe,  King  of  the  French,  and  by  her  had  a  fam- 
ily of  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  The  eldest  son 
died  when  he  was  less  than  a  year  old.  The  second 
son,  Leopold,  born  in  1835,  succeeded  his  father  in 
1865,  the  second  of  his  name,  and  reigned  for  nearly 
forty-five  years.  His  death  took  place  in  December, 
1909.  The  third  son  was  Philip,  Count  of  Flanders, 
born  in  1837  and  died  in  1905,  and  the  only  daughter, 
Charlotte,  the  unhappy  Empress  of  Mexico,  is  still 
living.  Leopold  II,  who  married  in  1853  the  Arch- 
duchess Marie  Henrietta  of  Austria,  had  only  one  son, 
who  bore  the  title  of  Duke  of  Brabant,  and  died  in 
1869  in  his  tenth  year.  The  reversion  to  the  throne 
thus  passed  to  the  Count  of  Flanders,  who  had  mar- 
ried in  1867  the  Princess  Mary  of  Hohenzollern- 
Sigmaringen.  The  issue  of  this  marriage  was  two 
sons  and  two  daughters.  As  the  Salic  Law  prevails, 
it  is  unnecessary  to  say  anything  either  of  these  prin- 
cesses or  of  the  three  daughters  of  Leopold  II,  all  of 
whom  survive. 

The  two  sons  of  the  Count  of  Flanders  were  named 
Baudouin  (Baldwin)  and  Albert.  Prince  Baudouin, 
who  was  extremely  popular  with  the  people,  died  sud- 
denly in  1891  without  having  married.  There  re- 
mained only  his  brother  Albert  to  prevent  the  Belgian 


98  BELGIUM 

royal  family  from  extinction  in  the  male  line.  For 
some  years  the  situation  gave  rise  to  considerable 
anxiety,  but  Prince  Albert's  marriage  in  1900  to  the 
Princess  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  late  Duke  Charles 
Theodore  of  Bavaria,  followed  by  the  birth  of  two 
sons  named  Leopold  and  Charles,  removed  all  ground 
for  apprehension,  and  assured  the  succession  in  the 
male  line.  In  December,  1909,  Prince  Albert  succeeded 
his  uncle  *&s  Albert  I,  and  he  and  his  wife,  Queen 
Elizabeth,  who  is  renowned  for  her  charitable  deeds, 
have  begun  what  promises  to  prove  a  new  era  in  Bel- 
gian history.  Their  sons  are  now  known  by  the  his- 
toric titles  of  Duke  of  Brabant  and  Count  of  Flanders 
respectively. 

But  the  Belgian  Constitution  did  a  great  deal  more 
than  found  and  define  a  constitutional  monarchy.  It 
provided  for  the  liberties  of  a  people  in  a  manner  then 
almost  without  example  in  Europe.  It  is  rare  indeed 
to  find  legislators  more  animated  by  the  principles  of 
true  freedom  for  individuals  as  well  as  the  community 
than  were  the  framers  of  the  Belgian  Constitution  in 
1830-31.  The  modern  politician  seems  bent  on  devis- 
ing new  forms  of  tyranny  which  are  more  irritating 
than  those  favored  by  the  most  absolute  sovereigns. 
The  Belgian  Solons  displayed  a  remarkable  tolerance 
not  only  for  their  own  views,  but  for  those  of  their 
fellow  citizens.  For  instance,  Belgium  was  a  Catholic 
country — in  the  old  constitution  the  Church  had  been 
one  of  the  States — the  overwhelming  majority  of  the 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION  99 

people  were  devoted  followers  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
Yet  one  of  the  Articles  of  the  Constitution  separates 
church  and  state,  and  lays  down  the  law  that  all  cults 
are  equal  and  free.  Another  ordains  that  no  one  was 
to  be  interfered  with  or  disqualified  for  public  service 
or  office  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions.  These 
provisions  for  religious  tolerance  and  equality  were  all 
the  more  remarkable  because  no  popular  movement 
existed  to  force  or  induce  the  Legislature  to  adopt 
them.  They  might  be  styled  voluntary  efforts  in  the 
quest  of  supposed  perfection  or  at  least  of  unfettered 
liberty.  It  may  be  added  that  the  establishment  of  re- 
ligious equality  has  not  led  to  any  change  in  the  re- 
ligion of  the  people.  A  Protestant  propaganda  has 
never  had  any  chance  of  success  in  the  Southern 
Netherlands. 

Although  the  influence  of  the  Church  did  not  avail 
to  prevent  its  deposition  from  the  privileged  place  it 
had  enjoyed  in  the  State  from  time  immemorial,  it  was 
felt  that  it  would  not  be  in  accordance  with  the  fitness 
of  things  to  allow  of  a  non-Catholic  prince  ruling  a 
Catholic  people,  and  it  was  consequently  stipulated 
that  the  King  should  be  of  the  Catholic  religion.  But 
here  again  the  extraordinary  broad-mindedness  of  the 
Belgian  legislators  was  revealed,  for  during  the  first 
thirty-five  years  of  its  national  independence,  Belgium 
was  ruled  by  a  Protestant  King  because  Leopold  I  de- 
clined to  change  his  religion.  His  children  were,  how- 
ever, brought  up  as  Catholics  in  accordance  with  the 


100  BELGIUM 

Constitution  and  also  with  the  marriage  contract 
signed  at  Compiegne  on  the  occasion  of  his  marriage 
with  the  French  Princess. 

Among  the  salient  vital  principles  embodied  in  the 
Constitution  were  freedom  of  the  press,  of  the  person 
and  of  the  right  of  meeting.  Nowhere  has  the  press 
been  more  free  and  nowhere  has  the  individual  citizen 
been  more  secure  against  press  attack  than  in  Belgium. 
The  sensational  journalism  to  which  we  have  grown 
painfully  accustomed  is  unknown  in  Belgium.  No 
Belgian  citizen  is  ever  accused  or  exposed  in  the  pa- 
pers until  he  has  been  condemned  and  sentenced  by  a 
court  of  justice.  The  accused  and  their  relations  are 
spared  by  the  adoption  of  asterisks  and  initials  instead 
of  names.  It  may  be  due  to  the  smallness  of  the  coun- 
try, but  at  least  Belgian  procedure  is  considerate  of  the 
feelings  of  the  innocent  bearers  of  an  unusual  name. 
Among  other  important  changes  introduced  by  the  new 
Constitution  was  the  abolition  of  the  forfeiture  of 
civil  rights  and  of  the  confiscation  of  property.  The 
right  of  public  meeting,  which  includes  that  of  street 
processions,  is  absolute  with  the  sole  reservation  that 
during  the  session  of  the  Legislature  there  is  a  pro- 
hibited area  round  the  Parliament  House  and  Royal 
Palace. 

Everybody  knows  that  Belgium  is  a  neutral  State, 
but  contrary  to  what  seems  to  be  generally  supposed, 
this  neutrality  was  not  a  condition  imposed  by  the  Bel- 
gians on  themselves.    There  is  not  a  word  in  the  Con- 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION-  i*?aj\:W»' 

stitution  on  the  subject.  It  was  a  condition  imposed 
on  Belgium  by  the  Great  Powers  as  the  price  for  their 
recognition  of  her  existence.  The  Belgians  were  quick 
to  see  the  advantage  of  the  new  arrangement  which 
would  save  their  country  from  again  being  turned  into 
the  cockpit  of  Europe,  and  far  from  raising  any  ob- 
jection on  the  ground  of  its  being  an  interference  in 
their  internal  affairs,  they  welcomed  the  proposal. 
Now  the  Powers  were  not  thinking  of  the  Belgians 
when  they  came  to  this  decision,  but  of  themselves; 
and  the  problem  in  their  own  mind  was  how  to  com- 
pose their  own  rivalries  and  discords  so  that  the  bal- 
ance of  power  might  be  preserved.  A  few  facts  as  to 
how  this  arrangement  was  brought  about,  and  as  to  its 
precise  meaning  may  be  appropriately  added  here  to 
the  description  already  given  of  the  Constitution,  for 
the  neutrality  of  Belgium  is  an  essential  feature  in  its 
political  existence. 

When  the  Belgians  revolted,  and  showed  that  they 
were  likely  to  bring  their  revolution  to  a  successful 
issue,  the  Five  Powers  (England,  France,  Austria, 
Prussia,  and  Russia)  at  once  came  together  and 
opened  the  London  Conference.  The  first  decisions 
as  to  the  future  status  of  Belgium  in  Europe  were  con- 
tained in  the  document  known  as  the  "Eighteen  Ar- 
ticles," which  was  signed  in  London  on  June  26,  1831. 
The  9th  and  10th  Articles  defined  what  was  the  first 
view  and  intention  of  the  Powers  on  the  subject  of 
Belgian  neutrality,  and  the  following  is  their  text: 


102  BELGIUM 

"Art.  9.  Belgium  within  the  limits  traced  in  con- 
formity with  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  present 
preliminaries  shall  form  a  perpetually  neutral  State. 
The  five  Powers,  without  wishing  to  intervene  in  the 
internal  affairs  of  Belgium,  guarantee  her  that  per- 
petual neutrality  as  well  as  the  integrity  and  inviola- 
bility of  her  territory  in  the  limits  mentioned  in  the 
present  Article. 

"Art.  10.  By  just  reciprocity  Belgium  shall  be 
held  to  observe  this  same  neutrality  towards  all  the 
other  States  and  to  make  no  attack  on  their  internal 
or  external  tranquility  whilst  preserving  the  right  to 
defend  herself  against  every  foreign  aggression." 

The  pasages  in  italics  show  that  in  June,  1831,  the 
Powers  were  disposed  to  guarantee  Belgium  against 
attack  and  invasion  as  a  sort  of  return  for  imposing 
on  her  a  condition  of  permanent  neutrality. 

But  events  led  to  the  abandonment  of  the  Eighteen 
Articles,  and  to  the  substitution  in  their  place  of  the 
Twenty- four  Articles,  which  were  eventually  embod- 
ied in  the  binding  treaties.  The  definition  of  Bel- 
gium's neutrality  (although  none  the  less  fettering  on 
her  action)  in  the  later  instrument  is  far  less  clearly 
defined  or  binding  on  the  Powers  than  it  was  in  the 
earlier.  One  brief  Article  was  deemed  sufficient,  and 
read  as  follows: 

"Art.  7.  Belgium,  within  the  limits  specified  in 
Articles  1,  2,  and  4  shall  form  an  independent  and 
perpetually  neutral  State.  She  shall  be  bound  to  ob- 
serve this  same  neutrality  towards  all  other  States." 

While  pundits  in  international  law  will  keenly  dis- 
cuss the  significance  of  the  very  marked  difference  in 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION  103 

language  employed  in  the  two  sets  of  Articles,  there 
remains  clear  the  one  essential  fact — that  Belgium 
was  deemed  in  the  eyes  of  the  Powers,  and  had  to 
accept  as  the  price  of  their  recognition  of  her  exist- 
ence the  statute  of,  a  "perpetually  neutral  State." 

Belgium's  neutrality  in  international  law  comes 
under  the  heading  of  "imposed"  or  "obligatory"  neu- 
trality as  contradistinguished  from  the  "voluntary 
neutrality"  of  Switzerland. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PARTY  POLITICS  IN   BELGIUM 

BEFORE  dealing  with  the  question  of  Party  Poli- 
tics in  Belgium  and  the  attitude  of  the  several 
parties  in  the  State  towards  each  other,  it  will  be  well 
to  give  some  statistics  and  other  essential  particulars 
as  to  the  composition  of  the  legislature,  the  system  of 
election,  the  electorate,  and  the  various  changes  that 
have  from  time  to  time  been  introduced  into  the  politi- 
cal government  of  the  country. 

By  the  original  Constitution  of  the  country  drafted 
in  1830-31,  the  legislative  powers  were  vested  in  the 
King,  the  Chamber  of  Representatives,  and  the  Sen- 
ate. By  the  law  of  March  3,  1831,  there  were  to  be 
102  Representatives  and  fifty-one  Senators,  and  the 
rule  that  there  were  to  be  twice  as  many  of  the  former 
as  of  the  latter  was  observed  through  all  the  changes 
until  that  of  1893,  when  the  Senate  was  increased  in 
proportional  numerical  strength  by  the  addition  of 
twenty-seven  permanent  provincial  members.  In 
June,  1839,  the  principle  of  one  representative  per 
40,000  of  the  population  was  introduced  with  the  con- 
sequence that  the  Chamber  was  reduced  to  ninety-five 
members  and  the  Senate  to  forty-seven.  A  law  hav- 
ing to  be  passed  on  each  occasion  of  an  increase  in 

104 


PARTY  POLITICS  IN  BELGIUM  105 

the  Chambers,  it  may  be  interesting  to  record  what 
they  have  been.  In  1847,  the  number  was  raised  to 
108  representatives  and  54  senators;  in  1859  to  116 
and  58  respectively ;  in  1866  to  124  and  62 ;  in  1878  to 
132  and  66;  in  1882  to  138  and  69;  in  1892  to  152  and 
76;  in  1893  to  152  and  102;  and  in  1902  to  166  and 
110.  Once  the  principle  is  understood,  it  is  easy  to 
follow  the  fluctuations  by  comparison  with  the  growth 
of  population. 

With  regard  to  the  system  of  election  and  the  body 
of  the  electorate,  a  general  election  for  the  Chamber 
of  Representatives  must  at  the  longest  interval  take 
place  every  four  years  and  for  the  Senate  every  eight 
years,  the  Sovereign  having  the  power  with  or  with- 
out the  assent  of  the  Premier  to  dissolve  the  Chambers 
and  compel  an  appeal  to  the  country  at  any  time.  At 
the  commencement  of  a  new  reign  a  dissolution  takes 
place  automatically.  There  is  another  point,  half  the 
Chamber  has  to  be  re-elected  at  the  expiration  of  two 
years  from  any  general  election,  and  half  the  Senate 
at  that  of  four  years. 

The  number  of  electors  was  extremely  limited 
from  1831  to  1892.  In  1832  there  were  45,000  voters, 
in  1848,  80,000,  and  in  1892  the  electorate  only  num- 
bered 136,775  in  a  population  of  six  and  a  half  mil- 
lions. By  the  new  law  passed  in  1893  the  number  of 
electors  was  increased  to  1,354,891,  who,  by  the  plural 
vote  passed  at  the  same  time  held  2,085,605  votes. 


106  BELGIUM 

These  numbers  had  increased  to  1,472,  953  voters  and 
2,269,414  votes  in  1900. 

The  Belgian  legislature  was  created  in  a  time  of 
national  peril,  and  in  face,  as  it  were,  of  the  enemy. 
At  such  a  moment  it  might  be  said  with  truth  that 
"none  were  for  a  party,  but  all  were  for  the  State." 
Political  parties  did  not  exist.  The  executive  mem- 
bers were  chosen  more  or  less  from  both  sides,  and 
formed  what  was  called  the  party  of  Union.  This 
happy  condition  of  things  could  not  be  expected  to  last 
longer  than  the  circumstances  which  rendered  it  pos- 
sible. The  passing  of  the  national  peril  revived  the 
ceaseless  turmoil  of  faction  fighting.  Some  one  has 
said  that  popular  assemblies  only  exist  for  the  purpose 
of  useless  and  unedifying  broiling  in  which  words  take 
the  place  of  lethal  weapons,  and  then  has  added  as  an 
after-tribute  to  their  utility,  "but  they  let  off  danger- 
ous steam."  For  all  the  useful  work  that  is  done  a 
council  of  six  wise  men  would  do  far  better.  For  this 
reason  the  first  fifteen  years  of  Belgian  independence 
were  full  of  wise  and  beneficent  public  measures  as 
well  as  free  from  party  discord 

The  note  of  change  was  struck  in  1846,  when  the 
first  Liberal  Congress  was  held  in  Brussels.  The 
Liberal  party  was  then  provided  with  a  definite  pro- 
gram and  an  efficient  organization.  Having  thus  got 
the  start  of  the  Catholics  or  Conservatives,  it  was  not 
surprising  that  the  Liberals  should  be  returned  with 
a  great  majority  at  the  general  election  of  1847,  and 


PARTY  POLITICS  IN  BELGIUM  107 

they  remained  in  office  with  two  intervals,  one  brief 
and  the  other  longer,  until  1884.  For  the  first  half  of 
that  long  period  the  Liberal  leader  was  M.  Charles 
Rogier,  a  true  patriot  who  had  done  as  much  as  any 
individual  to  make  the  Belgian  Revolution  successful. 
His  successor  in  the  second  half  of  the  period  was  M« 
Frere-Orban,  a  brilliant  orator  and  the  chief  of  the 
"doctrinaires."  The  revolution  of  1848  found  Bel- 
gium controlled  by  Liberal  influences,  and  it  was  one 
of  the  few  Continental  States  that  escaped  the  cata- 
clysm of  that  trying  and  critical  epoch. 

The  partial  election  of  1852  was  less  favorable  to 
the  Liberals  than  they  had  expected,  and  as  they  were 
divided  amongst  themselves,  it  provided  an  opportu- 
nity of  once  more  forming  a  mixed  administration 
without  any  definite  party  color  or  aggressive  pro- 
gram. It  held  the  balance  between  the  extremists  on 
the  difficult  question  of  religious  instruction  in  sec- 
ondary schools,  and  when  the  general  election  of  1854 
resulted  in  the  return  for  the  first  time  of  a  Catholic 
majority,  it  seemed  as  if  the  period  of  calm  might  not 
be  interrupted. 

The  new  premier  was  M.  Pierre  de  Decker  —  a 
Catholic  of  moderate  views  and  the  first  Fleming  to 
appear  among  Belgian  politicians — -and  his  brief  ten- 
ure of  power  is  chiefly  memorable  because  it  witnessed 
an  exceedingly  bitter  encounter  between  Catholics  and 
Liberals.  This  was  the  more  remarkable  because 
there  can  be  no  question  of  his  moderation,  and  the 


108  BELGIUM 

violence  of  the  attack  on  his  measures  was  due,  not 
to  their  purport,  but  to  the  opinion  among  the  Liberal 
leaders  that  in  this  way  alone  could  they  return  to 
office.  The  Catholic  party  had  a  majority  in  the 
Chamber,  therefore  M.  Frere-Orban  appealed  to  the 
masses.  The  threat  of  a  revolution  was  made,  and  for 
the  first  time  in  the  history  of  constitutional  Belgium 
street  demonstrations  were  the  order  of  the  day.  It 
was  so  well  known  that  these  were  engineered  by  those 
desirous  of  returning  to  office  that  the  agitation  was 
called  "the  kid-gloved  revolution."  However,  the 
Premier  lost  his  nerve  and  resigned.  The  Liberals 
returned  to  office  in  1857,  and  remained  there  with- 
out a  break  till  1870. 

The  elections  of  1860  and  1864  were  remarkable 
for  the  first  appearance  of  the  advanced  Liberals,  who 
wished  to  give  legislative  effect  to  the  extreme  argu- 
ments used  when  Frere-Orban  was  in  opposition  and 
only  thinking  how  best  to  get  back  to  office.  But 
Frere-Orban  was  quite  a  different  person  as  Minister, 
and  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  proposals  to  eliminate 
religious  instruction  from  the  school  curriculum.  The 
extreme  left,  led  by  M.  Verhaegen  in  these  years, 
was  the  precursor  of  the  Socialist  Party  which  has 
played  so  prominent  a  role  in  more  recent  days.  By 
the  time  that  the  general  election  of  1870  was  reached 
it  had  become  clear  that  old  party  lines  were  breaking 
down,  and  that  soon  the  Chamber  would  be  divided 
among  three  parties.    What  was  not  expected  was  that 


PARTY  POLITICS  IN  BELGIUM  109 

the  swing  of  the  pendulum  towards  Radicalism  would 
bring  the  Catholic  party  into  office.  The  electors  of 
the  country  returned  Conservative  representatives 
with  a  clear  majority  over  the  two  sections  of  the 
Liberal  party. 

This  defeat  at  a  moment  when  they  fully  counted 
on  complete  victory  filled  the  Liberals  with  wrath,  and 
they  determined  to  make  the  position  of  the  Catholic 
Ministry  as  uncomfortable  as  possible.  The  session 
of  1870-71  was  particularly  stormy,  both  inside  and 
outside  the  Chamber.  While  prominent  politicians 
spoke  loudly  of  violations  of  the  Constitution,  bring- 
ing in  the  King's  name,  the  mob  demonstrated  in  the 
streets  to  cries  for  a  republic,  and  serious  events  oc- 
curred in  Brussels  and  Antwerp.  In  a  certain  degree 
these  demonstrations  were  not  without  result.  The 
Premier,  an  advanced  Catholic,  resigned  in  favor  of 
one  less  extreme,  and  M.  Jules  Malou  became  Minis- 
ter of  Finance  with  a  definite  program  for  the  im- 
provement of  labor  conditions,  the  increase  of  the 
electorate,  and  the  introduction  of  the  ballot.  As  the 
Catholic  party  possessed  a  majority  of  twenty-two, 
the  bitterness  of  party  strife  became  somewhat  allayed 
during  the  next  two  sessions,  and  in  November,  1873, 
the  King  felt  himself  able  to  state  that  "calm  and 
prosperous,  Belgium  in  1873  may  be  proud  of  the  past 
and  look  at  the  future  with  serene  confidence."  At 
the  general  election  of  1874  the  Catholics  found  their 


110  BELGIUM 

majority  reduced  to  fourteen.  The  partial  elections 
cf  1876  further  reduced  it  to  twelve. 

The  year  1877  was  remarkable  for  three  impor- 
tant political  events.  Voting  by  ballot  was  introduced, 
the  Chamber  was  increased  by  ten  representatives  and 
the  Senate  by  five,  and  the  first  avowedly  Socialist 
meeting  was  held  at  Ghent.  The  first  election  under 
the  new  system  was  held  in  June,  1878,  when  the 
Liberals  secured  a  majority  of  twelve,  and  M.  Frere- 
Orban  returned  to  power.  The  Catholic  party  had 
done  quite  well  enough  during  its  eight  years'  tenure 
of  office  to  remove  the  reproach  that  had  often  been 
made  against  it,  that  it  did  not  know  how  to  govern. 
During  the.  critical  period  of  the  Franco-German  War 
it  had  upheld  the  honor  and  neutrality  of  Belgium, 
and  in  the  region  of  domestic  affairs  it  had  given  the 
elector  security  in  voting  and  ameliorated  the  condi- 
tions of  the  labor  classes. 

With  the  return  of  the  Liberal  party  to  power 
began  one  of  the  stormiest  periods  in  Belgian  history. 
The  new  Ministry  resorted  to  a  policy  of  what  was 
called  action,  and  which  was  really  a  course  of  aggres- 
sion against  everything  their  opponents  held  dear. 
They  began  by  removing  several  Catholic  governors 
of  the  provinces,  diminishing  the  powers  of  the  "Com- 
missions Permanentes"  (the  highest  division  in  the 
system  of  local  self-government  in  Belgium),  and 
flooding  the  civil  and  more  especially  the  educational 
service  with  their  own  nominees.     Having  thus  pre- 


PARTY  POLITICS  IN  BELGIUM  111 

pared  the  way,  they  brought  in  their  Education  Bill, 
which  was  avowedly  intended  to  deal  a  fatal  blow  to 
the  Church  by  eliminating  all  religious  instruction 
from  primary  schools.  The  measure  was  passed  into 
law,  and  for  five  years  "State  instruction  was  placed 
under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  civil  authorities." 
In  consequence  of  this  law  one-third  of  the  children 
left  the  primary  State  schools  to  join  those  which  the 
Church  established  wherever  they  had  the  means.  A 
rupture  with  the  Vatican  followed,  and  the  bitterness 
of  the  strife  between  the  Catholics  and  Liberals  was 
shown  by  the  refusal  of  the  Church  to  take  any  part 
in  the  national  festivities  held  in  1880  to  celebrate  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  Belgian  independence. 

Notwithstanding  the  efforts  made  by  the  Catholic 
party  under  the  able  and  energetic  direction  of  M. 
Malou  to  improve  their  organization  and  rouse  the 
country,  the  partial  elections  of  1880  increased  the 
Liberal  majority  by  four  votes.  The  Liberals,  how- 
ever, had  troubles  of  their  own.  Far  as  M»  Frere- 
Orban  had  gone,  he  had  not  gone  anything  like  far 
enough  to  satisfy  the  extreme  wing  of  his  followers. 
During  the  session  of  1881  M.  Janson  and  his  band  of 
Radicals  demanded  Universal  Suffrage  and  threatened 
to  upset  the  government  unless  it  brought  in  a  bill  to 
that  effect.  M.  Frere-Orban  refused  to  give  way  on 
this  point,  and  as  a  "doctrinaire"  favored  a  restricted 
instead  of  an  enlarged  franchise.  The  utmost  conces- 
sion he  would  make  was  the  granting  of  a  vote  for 


112  BELGIUM 

an  educational  qualification  to  be  established  by  public 
examination.  The  Radical  section,  finding  its  position 
less  strong  than  it  had  imagined,  withdrew  its  de- 
mand, but  from  that  moment  dated  the  bitterness  of 
the  relations  between  the  two  sections  of  the  Liberal 
party.  It  was  said  with  some  truth  that  much  as  they 
hated  the  Catholics,  they  hated  each  other  more. 

Under  these  conditions  the  time  arrived  for  hold- 
ing the  general  election  of  1884.  The  Liberals  never 
doubted  that  their  triumph  was  assured  and  that  they 
had  the  country  behind  them  in  their  education  policy. 
They  were  destined  to  experience  a  rude  disillusion. 
They  went  to  the  country  with  a  majority  that  had 
gradually  swelled  in  six  years  from  twelve  to  twenty. 
They  returned  in  a  minority  of  thirty-four.  Eighty- 
six  Catholics  were  elected  as  against  fifty-two  Lib- 
erals of  all  sections.  M.  Malou  again  became  Pre- 
mier, and  his  first  act  showed  his  determination  to 
undo  the  measures  of  the  fallen  administration.  He 
suppressed  the  separate  post  of  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction,  adding  his  functions  to  those  of  the  Min- 
ister of  the  Interior.  In  the  Senate  the  "doctrinaire" 
party  still  possessed  a  majority,  and  before  organic 
changes  could  be  made  it  was  necessary  for  the  Catho- 
lics to  have  a  sure  majority  there  also.  The  Senate 
sits  for  eight  years,  as  already  explained,  and  in  1884 
the  period  of  its  re-election  had  not  arrived.  It  was 
necessary  for  it  to  be  dissolved  for  re-election,  and  the 


PARTY  POLITICS  IN  BELGIUM  113 

result  of  this  was  that  the  Catholics  obtained  in  the 
new  Senate  a  majority  of  seventeen. 

Having  thus  insured  the  passing  of  its  legislative 
measures,  M.  Manlou's  government  proceeded  to  ab- 
rogate the  education  law  passed  by  its  predecessors, 
and  to  introduce  a  new  one  leaving  primary  education 
in  the  hands  of  the  Communes.  In  this  way  religious 
instruction  was  restored  in  the  schools  which  received 
State  subsidies.  The  passing  of  this  measure  into  law- 
was  accompanied  by  some  sensational  incidents. 
There  were  riots  in  Brussels  and  even  talk  of  civil 
war.  M.  Malou  retired  from  office  as  a  calming  meas- 
ure, and  was  succeeded  by  M.  Beernaert,  who  was  less 
identified  with  the  Church  than  his  chief.  Thus  was 
the  brief  interregnum  of  purely  secular  instruction  in 
Belgium  terminated,  and  the  system  of  education 
based  on  communal  control  has  gone  on  undisturbed 
for  twenty-five  years  and  seems  now  to  be  firmly  es- 
tablished. 

The  success  of  the  Catholic  party  did  not  prove, 
as  many  expected  it  to  be,  ephemeral.  The  partial 
election  of  1886  confirmed  its  triumph  by  raising  its 
majority  from  thirty-four  to  fifty-six.  In  1888  the 
moderate  Liberals  proposed  to  the  advanced  Radicals 
that  they  should  combine  for  the  purpose  of  the  gen- 
eral election,  but  the  offer  was  rejected  with  the  result 
that  the  Catholic  party  achieved  a  more  considerable 
triumph  than  it  had  on  first  coming  into  power.  There 


114  BELGIUM 

was  another  consequence.     The  internal  feuds  in  the 
Liberal  party  became  more  bitter. 

The  political  situation  in  the  country  was  not  as 
serene  as  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  Conserva- 
tives made  it  in  the  Chamber.  The  masses  betrayed 
great  discontent  with  their  position  and  clamored  for 
the  redress  of  grievances,  many  of  which  were  only 
too  real.  In  no  industrial  country  of  the  first  rank 
was  labor  then  less  remunerated  or  carried  out  under 
harsher  conditions  than  in  Belgium.  Undoubtedly  the 
working  classes  occupied  an  intolerable  position,  and 
the  redress  of  their  hardships  provided  the  only  means 
of  averting  a  revolution.  Every  year  from  1886  to 
1890  witnessed  serious  strikes  and  collisions  between 
the  strikers  and  the  civil  authorities.  On  more  than 
one  occasion  the  military  had  to  be  called  out  and 
bloodshed  ensued.  In  one  encounter  near  Charleroi 
as  many  as  seventy  men  were  killed.  It  was  also  no- 
ticed that  every  year  the  Socialist  party  showed  better 
organization,  and  that  its  attacks  in  both  the  Cham- 
ber and  the  street  were  becoming  more  menacing. 
Thus  it  was  high  time  to  think  of  remedies.  A  com- 
mission was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  labor 
and  to  provide  remedies  for  popular  grievances.  It 
will  suffice  to  say  here  that  it  did  good  work  by  rais- 
ing the  scale  of  pay,  diminishing  the  hours  of  labor, 
and  restricting  the  employment  of  women  and  chil- 
dren.    The  second  of  the  remedies  concerns  us  more 


PARTY  POLITICS  IN  BELGIUM  115 

particularly  in  a  sketch  of  party  politics,  for  it  re- 
lates to  the  franchise. 

The  Catholic  party  decided  that  they  could  no 
longer  avoid  an  extension  of  the  franchise.  The  Bel- 
gian Constitution  was  exceedingly  liberal  in  its  princi- 
ples, but  this  did  not  alter  the  plain  fact  that  Belgium, 
with  a  population  of  six  millions  in  1890,  had  only 
134,437  voters.  In  the  year  just  named  the  Chamber 
passed  by  a  general  vote  a  motion  to  the  effect  that 
Article  47  of  the  Constitution  (the  one  fixing  the 
qualification  of  electors)  required  revision.  The  next 
thing  was  to  discover  how  it  could  be  carried  out. 
The  Government  wished  to  raise  the  total  to  600,000 
voters  based  on  a  small  property  qualification,  but  it 
was  found  impossible  to  find  a  minimum  that  would 
satisfy  the  exigencies  of  the  case.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances there  was.  no  practical  remedy  but  giving 
all  citizens  a  vote  on  the  basis  of  an  age  minimum  and 
residential  qualification.  This  measure,  if  left  alone, 
would  have  gone  very  near  to  the  universal  suffrage 
demanded  by  the  Socialists.  The  balance  was  re- 
dressed by  the  invention  of  the  plural  vote,  which 
added  one  or  two  votes  for  each  elector  possessing 
special  defined  qualifications.  Before  describing  the 
new  franchise  it  may  be  appropriate  to  give  the  King's 
speech  in  opening  the  session  which  saw  the  passing 
of  this  great  legislative  reform: 

"The  Belgian  Constitution  is  today  the  most  an- 
cient of  the  Continent.    It  has  brought  our  dear  coun- 


116  BELGIUM 

i:ry  a  long  succession  of  years  of  peace  and  fruitful 
development.  Like  you,  I  have  more  than  once  pro- 
claimed its  wisdom. 

"But  the  works  of  men  have  only  their  period ;  in- 
stitutions must  be  appropriate  to  their  surroundings; 
and  thanks  to  the  progress  accomplished,  our  institu- 
tions, which  were  noteworthy  for  their  liberal  features 
half  a  century  ago,  can  today  be  made  better  and  re- 
juvenated. 

"This  has  led  you  in  accordance  with  my  govern- 
ment to  the  decision  that  there  is  room  to  examine 
several  points  of  our  political  organization ;  and  in  the 
formal  and  special  consultation  prescribed  by  our 
fundamental  pact,  the  electoral  body  of  today  has  just 
given  you  a  mandate  to  carry  out  a  large  extension 
of  the  right  of  suffrage. 

"Other  problems  of  the  same  order  are  attached 
thereto,  and  to  solve  them  will  be  the  essential  object 
of  the  coming  session. 

"In  subordinating  the  revision  of  the  Constitution 
to  the  vote  of  an  exceptional  majority  our  fathers 
wished  that  it  should  not  be  possible  for  it  to  be  the 
work  of  a  party.  It  is  in  that  spirit,  Gentlemen,  that 
proposals  will  be  made  to  you  by  my  government.  It 
is  in  the  same  spirit,  I  do  not  doubt,  that  you  will  ex- 
amine them,  and  the  patriotic  sentiments  which  ani- 
mate your  assemblies  each  time  that  a  great  national 
interest  is  at  stake  are  a  sure  guaranty  that  the  revised 
Constitution  will  be  another  work  marked  by  concord, 
wisdom,  and  progress. 

"There  are  in  the  life  of  nations  historical  hours 
when  the  decisions  to  be  taken  may  exercise  a  decisive 
influence  on  their  destinies.  Such  is  the  present  mo- 
ment for  Belgium. 

"You  will  bring  to  the  examination  of  the  problems 
placed  before  you  a  profound  love  of  your  country, 


PARTY  POLITICS  IN  BELGIUM  117 

and  the  generous  views  more  than  ever  demanded  by 
the  incessant  progress  of  modern  ideas." 

It  was  not  until  the  session  of  1893  was  well  ad- 
vanced that  a  definite  scheme  was  elaborated  and 
passed  into  law.  The  new  qualifications  are  set  forth 
in  the  following  statement,  and  it  only  remains  to  add 
that  they  are  those  which  are  at  present  in  force. 

"One  vote  for  every  Belgian  citizen  on  reaching 
the  age  of  twenty-five,  and  who  has  resided  for  one 
year  in  the  same  commune. 

"One  extra  vote  for  every  elector  on  reaching  the 
age  of  thirty-five  who  is  married,  or  if  a  widower  who 
has  legitimate  descendants  provided  that  he  pays  one 
dollar  of  direct  taxation,  or  shows  that  he  is  exempt 
from  such  payment. 

"Two  extra  votes  for  every  elector  who  is  proprie- 
tor of  real  estate  with  a  minimum  cadastral  revenue 
of  $9.60,  or  who  shows  that  he  derives  the  sum  of 
$20  yearly  from  an  investment  in  the  State  Stocks  or 
Savings   Banks. 

"(or)  Two  extra  votes  for  every  elector  (1)  hold- 
ing diplomas  of  various  descriptions  enumerated  in 
Art.  17;  or  (2)  holding  government  posts  or  public 
dignities  enumerated  in  Art.  19. 

"Maximum  number  of  votes  for  any  elector  is 
three." 

In  addition  to  the  creation  of  the  plural  vote  a 
further  defense  for  society  was  formed  in  the  in- 
crease of  the  Senate  in  numbers  and  by  importing  into 
it  a  more  permanent  element.  The  numbers  of  the 
Senate  as  fixed  by  the  original  law  were  to  be  half 
those  of  the  Chamber,  and  the  law  of  1893  made  no 
change  in  this  respect.     These  members  were  elected 


,118  BELGIUM 

'for  eight  years,  half  retiring  for  re-election  at  the 
expiration  of  four  years.  But  the  new  law, introduced 
a  new  element.  The  Provincial  Councils  were  to  dele- 
gate twenty-seven  representatives  to  the  Senate,  and 
these  nominees  of  the  Nine  Provinces  sit  independ- 
ently of  all  elections. 

It  was  computed  that  the  new  law  created  1,200,000 
electors  who  would  possess  1,900,000  votes.  Notwith- 
standing the  ingenious  innovation  of  the  plural  vote 
the  Conservatives  naturally  regarded  with  no  little 
trepidation  the  possible  outcome  of  this  surrender  to 
the  demands  of  the  democracy.  The  election  of  1892, 
under  the  old  system,  had  given  a  return  of  ninety- 
tRree  Catholics  to  fifty-nine  Liberals  of  all  shades. 
Curiosity  was  naturally  felt  as  to  the  results  of  the 
election  of  1894  with  the  new  franchise.  It  resulted 
in  the  return  of  104  Catholics,  twenty  Liberals  and 
Radicals,  and  twenty-eight  Socialists.  The  old  "doc- 
trinaire" party  was  practically  wiped  out.  The  par- 
tial elections  of  1896  further  increased  the  Catholic 
majority,  which  then  reached  its  highest  point.  The 
new  Chamber  contained  112  Catholics,  only  twelve 
Liberals,  and  twenty-eight  Socialists. 

The  authors  of  the  new  franchise  had  conceived 
that  it  would  greatly  favor  the  Liberals,  and  as  a  fur- 
ther precaution  for  the  protection  of  minorities  M. 
Beernaert  had  proposed  to  supplement  the  plural  vote 
with  a  measure  of  "proportional  representation."  His 
party  would  not  support  him,  and  therefore  he  re- 


PARTY  POLITICS  IN  BELGIUM  119 

signed  in  1894.  The  overwhelming  Catholic  majority 
in  the  Chamber,  which  was  in  excess  of  all  proportion 
to  the  votes  recorded  for  the  several  parties,  was  in 
itself  an  incitement  to  the  attacks  of  their  political 
adversaries.  The  Socialists,  who  had  only  twenty- 
eight  seats  for  nearly  half  a  million  votes,  clamored 
loudly  for  universal  suffrage,  while  the  Liberals  and 
the  moderate  Catholics  demanded  the  introduction  of 
"proportional  representation,"  which  would  certainly 
equalize  the  chances  of  all  parties.  It  was  amid  riot- 
ous scenes  in  both  the  Chambers  and  the  streets  that 
the  new  reform  was  passed  into  law  in  1899. 

By  the  system  of  proportional  representation  Bel- 
gium is  divided  into  a  fixed  number  of  electoral  dis- 
tricts, and  each  district  has  the  number  of  its  members 
apportioned  in  accordance  with  the  total  strength  of 
each  party  in  it.  As  a  rule,  there  are  only  three  par- 
ties, but  the  presence  of  a  Catholic  Democrat  would 
raise  the  total  to  four.  The  number  of  seats  to  be 
filled  is  divided  by  the  number  of  parties,  and  then 
distributed  in  the  proportion  of  the  total  votes  re- 
corded for  each.  By  this  system  the  smallest  minority 
is  certain  of  one  seat.  The  following  instance  will  per- 
haps make  the  system  clear.  An  electoral  district  with 
40,000  recorded  votes  returns  seven  members.  Four 
parties  contest  it  with  the  result  that  the  total  votes 
are:  Catholics,  25,000;  Liberals,  8,000;  Socialists, 
5,000;  and  Catholic  Democrats,  2,000.  The  seven 
seats  would  then  be  distributed  as  follows :  one  to  the 


120  BELGIUM 

Catholic  Democrat,  one  each  to  the  Liberals  and  So- 
cialists, and  four  to  the  Catholics. 

Just  as  it  had  been  anticipated  that  the  new  fran- 
chise would  greatly  favor  the  Liberals  in  1894,  so  was 
it  reckoned  in  1899  that  the  introduction  of  propor- 
tional representation  could  not  fail  to  be  followed  by 
a  marked  movement  towards  an  equalization  of  par- 
ties. The  estimate  of  the  Liberals  of  the  result  of  the 
1900  election  was  a  total  of  eighty  Catholics  as  against 
seventy-two  Liberals  and  Socialists,  the  two  sections 
of  the  Left  having  sunk  their  differences  for  a  time 
in  the  hope  of  shortening  the  term  of  Catholic  power. 
Fourteen  new  seats  had  also  been  created,  raising  the 
total  to  166.  The  result  of  the  election  showed  ninety- 
five  Catholics,  thirty-five  Liberals,  thirty-four  Social- 
ists, and  two  Catholic  Democrats,  the  Catholic  major- 
ity being  still  twenty-four.  As  this  majority  has  been 
steadily  reduced  at  each  subsequent  election,  the  Lib- 
eral prophecy  was  not  so  far  out  as  it  at  first  appeared. 
In  1904  the  majority  fell  to  twenty,  in  1906  to  twelve, 
in  1908  to  eight,  and  in  1910  to  six,  which  is  the 
present  figure.  The  composition  of  the  House  is 
eighty-six  Catholics,  forty- four  Liberals,  thirty-five 
Socialists,  and  one  Catholic  Democrat.  Lest  it  might 
be  thought  that  a  government  possessing  a  majority 
of  six  is  necessarily  doomed  to  speedy  extinction,  it 
may  be  pointed  out  that  for  the  Belgian  legislature  it 
forms  a  good  working  majority  which  only  a  sudden 
epidemic  would  cause  to  disappear.     The  payment  of 


PARTY  POLITICS  IN  BELGIUM  121 

the  members  (who  since  1894  receive  a  salary  of 
$800  a  year)  insures  regular  attendance  because 
it  is  the  condition  of  receiving  the  stipend;  the 
deliberateness  with  which  business  is  carried  on  and 
the  fact  that  there  are  no  night  sittings  eliminate  the 
risk  of  surprise  motions  and  snap  divisions;  and 
therefore,  provided  no  split  takes  place  in  the  party 
itself,  a  majority  of  six  is  just  as  effective  as  one  of 
sixty. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  break-up  and  dis- 
union of  the  Liberal  party  that  went  on  for  a  long 
time  after  the  fall  of  the  doctrinaire  party,  and  it  is 
only  right  to  say  that  the  Liberals  and  Socialists  have 
a  common  working  program  today  which  gives  them 
equal  chances  at  the  hustings.  Whether  it  would  avail 
to  enable  them  to  form  a  joint  administration  should 
they  succeed  in  beating  the  Catholics  in  1912  is  a 
question  that  had  better  be  left  till  the  event  has  oc- 
curred. A  curious  phenomenon  in  Belgium's  political 
life  is  the  appearance  of  a  new  section  in  the  Catholic 
party,  known  as  the  Young  Right.  These  politicians 
are  far  more  liberal  than  the  older  Clericals,  and  their 
influence  is  for  the  moment  in  the  ascendant.  But  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  internal  differences  in  what  has 
so  long  been  the  solid  phalanx  of  the  Catholic  party, 
are  likely  to  bring  sooner  to  an  end  the  long  tenure 
of  power  that  it  has  enjoyed  since  1884. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  ARMY 

AS  the  Belgian  army  by  the  new  law  is  passing 
through  a  transition  stage,  it  is  inevitable  that 
part  of  the  following  description  must  apply  more  to 
what  will  be  than  to  what  is.  The  following  words 
spoken  by  the  present  King  Albert  in  the  course  of  a 
speech  he  made  in  Brussels  on  Jaunary  7,  1910,  will 
serve  as  a  suitable  introduction  to  what  follows: 

"The  year  that  has  just  closed  witnessed  the  pass- 
ing into  law  of  a  great  measure  of  reform,  one  that 
we  had  called  for  with  all  our  hearts.  By  suppressing 
the  principle  of  pre-emption,  all  classes  of  society  are 
now  equally  engaged  in  the  performance  of  the  same 
sacred  duty,  viz.,  the  defense  of  our  native  land.  For 
the  future  a  really  national  army,  both  solid  and  nu- 
merous, will  form  for  poor  and  rich  alike  a  healthy 
school  of  patriotism.  Belgium  will  be  able  to  count 
on  it  for  the  preservation  of  her  inviolable  independ- 
ence." 

During  the  life  of  Leopold  I  the  army  was  his 

first  thought.    He  was  never  happy  unless  a  hundred 

thousand  well-trained  troops  could  be  put  in  the  field 

with  the  promptitude  required  for  the  preservation  of 

the  country's  neutrality ;  and  before  1870  the  presence 

of  such  a  force  sufficed  to  inspire  the  neighbors  of 

Belgium  with  respect.     After  the  death  of  the  first 

122 


THE  ARMY  123 

king,  the  military  machine  got  a  little  rusty,  and  in 
1870  the  paper  strength  of  97,000  men  on  a  war  foot- 
ing produced  only  85,000  in  reality.  Some  increase  of 
numbers,  especially  in  artillery  and  engineers,  was 
sanctioned,  and  in  1880  the  paper  strength  had  been 
raised  to  109,000  men,  which  is  was  hoped  would  give 
100,000  efficients.  But  owing  to  the  enormous  in- 
crease in  the  armies  of  France  and  Germany,  where 
standing  armies  had  been  abandoned  for  "armed  na- 
tions," the  Belgian  army  of  100,000  men  had  become 
by  the  course  of  events  relatively  valueless  as  com- 
pared with  those  of  its  neighbors. 

The  Belgians  themselves  were  fully  conscious  of 
the  change,  and  gradually  created  a  small  reserve 
which  raised  the  total  paper  strength  on  a  war  footing 
to  163,750  in  1900.  In  1904  the  total  was  brought  up 
to  171,508.  The  peace  effective,  however,  was  in  the 
latter  year  less  by  3,500  men  than  it  had  been  in  1870, 
and  many  of  the  battalions  on  parade  were  described 
as  skeletons.  If  exception  were  made  for  the  fortress 
artillery,  the  Belgian  army  in  1904  would  have  been 
pronounced  far  weaker  and  less  efficient  than  it  had 
been  thirty-four  years  before,  while  the  armies  of  its 
two  principal  neighbors  had  increased  nearly  tenfold. 

The  demand  for  army  reform  and  an  increased 
contingent  had  been  going  on  all  the  time  in  the  coun- 
try, and  several  War  Ministers  had  resigned  because 
the  Government  would  not  support  their  proposals. 
One  reform  was  loudly  called  for  before  every  other 


124  BELGIUM 

because  it  was  aimed  at  a  vicious  principle.  The  mili- 
tary law  of  the  land  was  conscription,  that  is  to  say, 
the  annual  contingent  was  obtained  by  the  drawing  of 
lots  by  all  young  men  on  reaching  the  age  of  nine- 
teen. But  when  a  well-to-do  conscript  drew  what  was 
called  a  bad  number,  he  merely  paid  a  sum  of  about 
$340,  and  a  substitute  was  provided  by  the  State. 
This  was  the  much-canvassed  and  unpopular  right  of 
pre-emption.  The  consequence  was  that  only  the 
poor  and  needy  class  served  in  the  army.  It  was  not 
until  1909  that  this  privilege  was  abolished,  and  hence- 
forth all  classes  alike  will  have  to  pay  what  is  called 
the  blood  tax.  The  effect  of  this  change  will  only  be 
perceptible  after  a  few  more  years  of  trial  and  reor- 
ganization. 

The  new  army  is  to  have  a  fixed  peace  strength  of 
42,800  men,  exclusive  of  officers,  who  in  1904  num- 
bered 3,473.  The  strength  on  a  war  footing  is  to  be 
gradually  raised  to  188,000.  The  real  change  of  im- 
portance is  that  the  145,200  men  called  to  the  colors 
will  be  fully  trained  soldiers  and  young,  whereas  the 
old  reserve  consisted  to  a  large  extent  of  middle-aged 
men,  married  and  loth  to  leave  their  homes.  The 
term  of  service  with  the  colors  has  also  been  reduced 
as  much  as  possible  with  regard  to  the  speedy  attain- 
ment of  the  minimum  total  felt  to  be  necessary  by  the 
Government  for  the  defense  of  Belgium.  For  the 
different  branches  of  the  service  it  is  fixed  as  follows: 


THE  ARMY  125 

Infantry,  Fortress  Artillery,  specialized  companies 
of  Artillery,  Engineers  and  specialized  com- 
panies  of  ^Engineers 15  months 

Cavalry  and  Horse  Artillery 2  years 

Field  Artillery  and  Train 21  months 

Administrative  Battalion   \2y2  months 

As  soon  as  the  total  required  has  been  obtained,  it 
is  proposed  to  reduce  the  term  by  one-third  in  the  case 
of  all  conscripts  who  have  shown  their  capability  by 
qualifying  for  the  rank  of  corporal  or  brigadier. 

The  infantry  is  divided  into  nineteen  regiments  in 
all,  named  as  follows:  One  regiment  of  Grenadiers, 
one  regiment  of  Carabiniers,  three  regiments  of  Foot 
Chasseurs,  and  fourteen  Line  regiments  distinguished 
by  their  numbers.  All  these  regiments  have  three  act- 
ive and  two  reserve  battalions  each,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Carabiniers  which  has  four  active  and  three  re- 
serve battalions.  The  Belgian  infantry  is  consequently 
represented  by  fifty-eight  active  and  thirty-nine  re- 
serve battalions.  The  defect  of  this  distribution  is 
that  the  fifty-eight  active  battalions  average  less  than 
400  men  apiece.  There  are  2,000  officers  serving  with 
the  battalions,  which  is  a  strong  proportion. 

Of  cavalry  there  are  only  eight  regiments.  They 
are  two  of  Guides,  two  of  Horse  Chasseurs  and  four 
of  Lancers.  Each  regiment  on  the  peace  establish- 
ment numbers  about  forty  officers  and  400  men;  but 
it  is  not  easy  to  follow  how  the  total  strength  of  the 
cavalry,  which  on  mobilization  will  number  9,600  men, 
is  to  be  distributed  among  only  eight  regiments.  The 
two  Guides  regiments  are  always  quartered  in  Brus- 


126  BELGIUM 

sels,  and  somewhat  resemble  our  household  cavalry, 
their  officers  being  to  a  large  extent  members  of  the 
noble  families  of  the  Netherlands.  They  are,  how- 
ever, light  and  not  heavy  cavalry,  and  their  uniform 
— cherry  trousers,  green  jackets  and  busbies  —  al- 
though exceedingly  pretty,  is  not  imposing  in  the  sense 
that  those  of  our  Life  Guards,  the  former  Imperial 
Cent  Gardes  and  the  German  Garde  du  Corps  are  or 
were.  The  undress  green  kepi  of  the  officers  is  even 
more  becoming  than  the  busby. 

The  Lancer  and  Chasseur  regiments  also  wear  at- 
tractive uniforms,  the  Lancers  wearing  the  old  Polish 
lancer  headdress  and  the  Chasseurs  a  high  kepi  of 
black  water-proof  leather.  The  regiments  are  all  well 
mounted,  but  whether  there  is  a  sufficiency  of  horses 
available  for  the  demand  on  mobilization  is  not  known. 
Although  the  material  is  excellent,  there  is  reason  to 
doubt  whether  the  training  of  the  cavalry  is  adequate 
for  the  exigencies  of  modern  warfare.  There  is  a 
dearth  of  suitable  training  grounds  for  cavalry.  The 
riding-school  at  Ypres  is  formed  on  the  model  of  the 
French  similar  school  at  Saumur,  but  it  is  admitted 
to  stand  in  need  of  reorganization.  It  must  be  rec- 
ognized that  a  great  deal  more  attention  has  been  paid 
by  Belgian  officers  to  riding  of  late  years  than  was 
formerly  the  case. 

Belgium  possesses  a  very  fine  corps  of  heavy  cav- 
alry in  the  gendarmerie.  This  force  has  been  gradu- 
ally increased  in  strength.     In   1870  it  consisted  of 


THE  ARMY  127 

forty-five  officers  and  1,442  men;  in  1904  it  numbered 
sixty-seven  officers  and  3,079  men.  The  force  is  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  kingdom  and  divided  into 
three  divisions.  It  patrols  the  high  roads,  is  employed 
in  arresting  malefactors,  and  keeps  a  watch  on  smug- 
glers and  spies.  These  duties  make  it  more  of  a  police 
than  a  military  force.  But  it  has  military  functions 
as  well.  On  State  occasions  a  few  gendarmes  are  al- 
ways on  show  in  their  full  dress  uniform  of  doeskin 
riding-breeches,  jack-boots,  blue  tunics  and  bearskins, 
which  make  them  resemble  our  Scots  Greys  or  the  old 
French  Grenadiers  a  Cheval.  As  they  are  men  picked 
for  their  physique  from  the  army,  they  are  quite  a 
corps  d' elite,  and  in  the  event  of  invasion  they  would 
bear  the  first  shock.  They  are  also  specially  charged 
with  the  execution  of  the  order  of  mobilization. 

In  1899,  during  the  worst  phase  of  the  Socialist 
riots,  the  Division  of  Brabant,  Hainaut,  and  Namur 
was  concentrated  in  Brussels,  and  took  a  very  active 
part  in  putting  down  the  street  disturbances.  In  fact, 
the  Socialists  for  the  first  time  had  some  experience 
of  rough  handling,  and  with  them  the  gendarmes  be- 
came very  unpopular.  They  called  them  the  Pandours, 
but  none  the  less  they  had  received  a  salutary  lesson, 
to  which  M.  Vandervelde,  the  Socialist  leader,  gave 
point  by  remarking  that  their  revolvers  did  not  place 
them  on  an  equality  with  men  armed  with  Mausers. 
This  corps  is  also  exceedingly  well  mounted,  and  the 


128  BELGIUM 

horses  are  kept  in  rather  harder  condition  than  with 
the  regular  cavalry  regiments. 

The  Artillery  has  always  been  well  organized  in 
Belgium,  more  especially  that  branch  of  it  which  is 
designated  Siege  or  Fortress.  There  are  seventy  bat- 
teries of  this  class  on  a  peace  footing.  Its  training 
ground  is  at  Braschaet,  near  Antwerp,  where  there  is 
a  polygon  for  testing  the  newest  kinds  of  heavy  ord- 
nance. Within  the  last  ten  years  the  artillery  in  the 
forts  of  Antwerp,  Liege,  and  Namur  has  been  com- 
pletely renovated,  and  is  now  quite  up-to-date.  The 
field  artillery  consists  of  thirty  batteries  on  a  peace 
footing,  but  there  are  only  four  batteries  of  Horse 
Artillery.  All  these  batteries  have  been  armed  with 
a  new  quick-firing  gun.  In  thirty-four  years  the 
strength  of  the  personnel  of  the  artillery  has  more 
than  doubled.  In  1870  it  numbered  380  officers  and 
13,062  men  on  a  war  footing;  in  1904  the  correspond- 
ing totals  were  565  officers  and  29,798  men. 

The  total  of  the  Engineer  force  is  163  officers  and 
1,484  men  on  the  peace  establishment  and  6,808  on 
mobilization.  The  "other  corps"  number  670  officers 
and  2,068  men  on  the  peace  establishment,  which  are 
increased  to  11,538,  when  the  reserves  are  called  out. 
Among  these  are  included  the  officers  of  the  Head- 
Quarter  Staff,  the  military  train,  the  administrative 
staff,  and  the  military  schools  in  which  young  men 
are  being  trained  either  as  officers  or  as  non-commis- 
sioned officers. 


THE  ARMY  129 

Now  that  the  reform  of  the  Belgian  army  has 
been  taken  seriously  in  hand  a  marked  improvement 
may  be  expected  in  its  appearance  and  real  efficiency. 
With  regard  to  the  physique  of  the  men,  there  should 
soon  be  a  noticeable  change,  more  especially  as  gym- 
nastics on  the  Swedish  system  have  recently  been  in- 
troduced into  the  army.  For  many  years  the  Belgian 
officers  have  labored  for  the  improvement  of  the 
army  under  very  discouraging  conditions.  Many  Bel- 
gian politicians  used  to  declare  that  the  country  re- 
quired nothing  more  than  a  police  force,  and  even 
those  who  did  not  go  quite  so  far  as  this  were  per- 
suaded that  the  Guarde  Civique  supplied  an  adequate 
reserve  for  the  regular  army.  It  is  now  generally 
admitted  by  most  Belgians  that  an  efficient  army  is 
essential  for  the  preservation  of  their  national  inde- 
pendence. 

No  mention  having  been  made  of  the  Garde 
Civique,  it  may  be  stated  that  this  civic  force  came 
into  being  at  the  time  of  the  Belgian  Revolution,  and 
the  role  assigned  to  it  was  the  maintenance  of  order 
in  the  towns.  It  was  also  intended  that  it  should  co- 
operate with  the  regular  troops  in  their  defense  in  the 
event  of  hostile  attack  or  invasion.  After  the  war 
with  Holland  was  over  the  Garde  Civique  fell  into 
neglect,  and  although  over  38,000  men  were  on  the 
rolls  in  1892  they  were  found  to  be  of  little  use  dur- 
ing the  serious  Socialist  troubles  and  strikes  of  that 
period.     One  of  the  consequences  of  those  incidents 


130  BELGIUM 

was  that  the  authorities  took  up  the  serious  reform 
of  the  Garde  Civique.  All  citizen  householders  were 
enrolled  and  required  to  attend  a  weekly  muster  held 
on  Sundays.  They  were  also  supplied  with  Mauser 
rifles,  and  in  1905  there  were  35,700  more  or  less  well- 
trained  men  available  to  support  the  civil  power  in 
any  emergency.  Besides  the  Garde  Civique,  but  closely 
akin  to  it  are  the  Volunteers.  These  are  corps  that 
have  possessed  a  distinct  existence  from  an  older 
date,  and  include  a  considerable  proportion  of  cav- 
alry and  artillery,  whereas  the  Garde  Civique  is  com- 
posed of  infantry  alone.  The  Volunteers  consist  of 
2,466  artillery,  668  cavalry,  4,809  infantry  or  foot 
chasseurs,  and  599  fire  brigade,  making  a  total  of 
8,542.  The  total  of  the  combined  corps  exceeds  44,000 
strong.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  service  in 
one  of  the  volunteer  corps  exempts  from  liability  for 
the  ordinary  Guard  Civique.  Since  this  force  was 
finally  reorganized  in  1899  there  have  been  fewer 
street  demonstrations,  and  no  repetition  of  the  serious 
riots  of  that  year  when  for  a  few  days  Brussels 
seemed  to  be  passing  through  a  revolution. 

Although  the  Belgian  army  has  not  got  a  very  ex~ 
tensive  war  record,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
under  anything  like  fair  conditions  it  would  give  a 
very  good  account  of  itself  against  any  opponent. 
The  old  fiction  that  the  Belgians  ran  away  at  Water- 
loo has  been  exploded.  In  the  war  with  the  Dutch  in 
1830-31  the  Belgians  did  exceedingly  well,  and  if  the 


THE  ARMY  131 

ten  days'  campaign  in  August,  1831,  was  unfortunate, 
the  conditions  under  which  it  was  carried  on  almost 
precluded  success.  Since  that  period  Belgian  troops 
have  not  fought  on  their  own  soil.  But  they  furnished 
contingents  for  the  war  in  Portugal  and  the  expedition 
to  Mexico,  and  in  both  they  served  with  credit.  Their 
best  opportunity  has  been  found  in  Central  Africa,  but 
here  it  must  be  stated  that  no  Belgian  troops  ever 
fought  in  a  body.  The  conquest  of  the  Congo  State 
and  the  protracted  campaign  for  the  destruction  of 
the  Arab  slave  dealers'  power  were  carried  out  by 
Belgian  and  other  officers  leading  black  troops.  The 
courage  and  constancy  of  these  men,  of  whom  the 
late  Baron  Dhanis  was  the  chief,  gave  a  favorable 
impression  of  the  army  to  which  they  belonged. 

In  conclusion,  a  brief  description  may  be  given  of 
the  system  of  fortifications  on  which  the  defense  of 
Belgium  may  be  be  said  to  be  based.  After  Waterloo, 
Belgium  was  endowed  with  twenty-four  fortresses, 
all  intended  to  protect  the  country  against  French 
invasion.  They  were  built  in  accordance  with  the 
best  principles  of  the  day  under  the  personal  super- 
vision of  Wellington,  and  the  French  taxpayer  had 
the  dubious  privilege  of  paying  the  cost  of  this  barrier 
against  his  country.  Those  were  the  days  when  every 
one  was  mortally  afraid  of  French  aggression.  One 
little  consideration  had  been  overlooked.  How  was 
Belgium  to  provide  troops  to  garrison  all  of  them  in 
time  of  peace?     The  plan  of  defense  was  really  an 


132  BELGIUM 

absurd  anachronism,  and  Leopold  I  exposed  its  de- 
fects. In  1832  the  number  was  reduced  by  five,  after 
negotiations  that  threatened  to  produce  a  European 
war.  In  1858  the  nineteen  others  remained  in  exist- 
ence. In  that  year  the  Belgian  Government  took  up 
the  question  for  itself  in  connection  with  the  forti- 
cation  of  Antwerp.  The  nineteen  were  then  reduced 
to  five,  and  all  the  useless  second-  or  third-rate  for- 
tresses along  the  French  frontier  were  suppressed  and 
dismantled.  The  five  that  were  preserved  were  Ant- 
werp, Namur,  Liege,  Diest,  an  Termonde.  The  only 
one  of  these  to  be  improved  was  Antwerp,  where  a 
new  enceinte  and  eight  detached  'forts  were  con- 
structed; the  others  remained  exactly  as  they  had 
been  in  the  time  of  the  Dutch  regime. 

After  the  great  war  of  1870  an  immense  and  far- 
reaching  change  took  place  in  the  range  and  destruc- 
tive power  of  siege  artillery.  All  the  Belgian  for- 
tresses, including  even  the  fine  new  works  at  Antwerp, 
were  rendered  useless.  In  1886  the  question  was 
pressed  home  to  the  conscience  of  the  Belgian  people 
by  the  efforts  of  General  Brialmont,  who  had  just 
made  a  great  reputation  by  his  elaborate  scheme  of 
fortification  at  Bucharest.  The  Belgian  Chambers 
were  induced  to  vote  the  necessary  funds  for  the  mod- 
ernizing of  the  fortress  of  Antwerp,  and  for  the  erec- 
tion of  new  positions  or  tetes  de  pont  at  Liege  and 
Namur,  thus  further  reducing  the  total  of  Belgian 
fortresses  to  three.    At  Namur  the  old  citadel,  famous 


THE  ARMY  133 

for  its  sieges  in  the  time  of  Louis  XIV,  was  aban- 
doned, and  a  ring  of  nine  new  forts  at  distances  of 
four  or  five  miles  from  the  town  was  substituted. 
These  forts  are  cupola-shaped  and  bomb-proof.  The 
guns  in  them  are  raised  and  lowered  automatically, 
and  have  a  range  of  ten  miles  or  even  more.  At  Liege 
there  are  twelve  new  forts;  two  of  the  strongest  of 
them  at  Fleron  and  Chaudfontaine  command  the  rail- 
way and  road  from  Germany.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  Namur  and  Liege  positions  are  exceedingly  strong, 
but  both  require  larger  garrisons  than  is  generally  as- 
sumed for  the  defense  of  the  intervals.  For  instance, 
the  fort  of  Evegnee,  at  Liege,  was  captured  in  theory 
during  some  recent  Belgian  manoeuvres,  and  the  loss 
of  one  of  the  detached  forts  would  seriously  compro- 
mise the  security  of  the  others. 

The  question  of  the  fortifications  at  these  places 
is  of  such  great  importance  that  it  may  be  useful  to 
give  fuller  particulars  as  to  the  detached  forts.  Of 
the  twelve  forts  at  Liege  six  are  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Meuse  and  six  on  the  left.  The  interval  between 
each  of  them  averages  two  and  a  half  miles,  and  the 
total  of  the  circumference  is  thirty-one  miles.  The 
six  forts  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Meuse  are  in  their 
order  from  north  to  south  (forming  an  eastern  curve), 
Barchon,  Evegnee,  Fleron,  Chaudfontaine,  Embourg, 
and  Boncelles.  Fleron  and  Chaudfontaine  command 
the  main  railway  line  from  Germany.  The  six  forts 
on  the  left  bank,  taking  the  western  curve,  are  Pon- 


134  BELGIUM 

tisse,  Liers,  Lantin,  Loncin,  Hollogne,  and  Flemalle. 
The  whole  constitutes  a  position  which,  if  held  by  a 
sufficient  garrison,  would  be  very  difficult  to  capture. 
The  Meuse,  which  is  unbridged  at  this  point,  con- 
stitutes an  element  of  weakness  for  both  Pontisse  and 
Barchon. 

The  nine  forts  round  Namur  are  St.  Heribert, 
Malonne,  Suarlee,  Emince,  Cognelee,  Gelbressee, 
Maizeret,  Andoy,  and  Dave.  They  are  placed  at  an 
average  interval  of  two  and  a  half  miles,  and  the  per- 
imeter in  this  case  is  twenty-one  miles.  The  twenty- 
one  forts  together  cost  four  millions  sterling. 

While  the  work  to  be  done  at  Namur  and  Liege 
was  brought  to  completion,  that  at  Antwerp,  the  as- 
sumed place  of  final  stand  for  Belgian  liberty,  was 
left  half  finished.  A  second  outer  ring  of  fifteen  de- 
tached forts  was  to  have  been  provided,  but  after  five 
had  been  constructed,  all  the  money  was  gone  and 
work  was  suspended.  In  1900  two  of  the  missing  ten 
were  completed,  and  at  last  in  1907,  in  consequence 
of  the  serious  international  outlook,  the  completion 
of  the  fortification  of  Antwerp  was  taken  in  hand  and 
has  now  been  brought  to  completion.  Part  of  the 
scheme,  which  was  received  with  mixed  feelings  when 
it  was  first  broached,  is  the  demolition  of  the  fine 
enceinte  constructed  in  1859.  This  was  done  to  ad- 
mit of  the  freer  expansion  of  the  city,  but  some  lighter 
and  less  costly  protection  will  have  to  be  provided 


THE  ARMY  135 

against  attack  by  cavalry  and  horse  artillery  or  other- 
wise the  security  of  Antwerp  will  be  compromised. 

The  important  point  in  all  these  changes  is  that 
the  number  of  places  to  be  defended  by  the  Belgian 
army  has  been  brought  well  within  the  capacity  of  its 
numerical  strength.  It  is  even  estimated  that  with 
180,000  effective  troops  Belgium  will  be  able  to  place 
an  army  of  100,000  men  in  the  field  to  co-operate  with 
the  armies  of  her  friends. 

At  Beverloo,  not  far  from  Hasselt,  in  the  north- 
east corner  of  Belgium,  there  is  a  military  camp  some- 
what resembling  Aldershot,  where  the  infantry  regi- 
ments are  sent  in  rotation  during  the  summer  and 
autumn  to  perfect  their  drill.  In  most  years  also 
autumn  manoeuvres  are  held,  and,  as  a  rule,  the  val- 
ley of  the  Meuse  between  Namur  and  Liege  is  chosen 
for  their  scene.  The  most  instructive  lessons  derived 
from  these  experiments  are  those  that  relate  to  the 
defense  of  the  intervals  between  the  detached  forts 
guarding  the  important  crossing  places  over  the  Meuse 
at  Liege  and  Namur.  It  is  also  noticeable  that  no  at- 
tempt has  been  made  to  defend  the  approach  from 
Dalheim.  The  late  General  Brialmont  always  con- 
sidered that  to  perfect  the  positions  of  Liege  and 
Namur  a  fort  d' arret  was  required  at  St.  Trond.  If 
he  were  living  now,  he  would  probably  stipulate  for 
one  at  Diest  as  well. 


CHAPTER  X 

POPULATION   AND  SOCIAL   MATTERS 

THE  official  returns  for  the  year  1908  gave  Bel- 
gium a  population  of  7,386,444  persons.  In 
1831  the  same  extent  of  territory  had  3,785,814  in- 
habitants. In  seventy-seven  years  the  population  has 
increased  by  3,600,630,  or  in  other  words,  nearly 
doubled.  In  the  same  peirod  there  has  been  a  large 
migration  of  Belgians  into  the  neighboring  countries, 
notably  into  France,  and  it  does  not  seem  an  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  half  a  million  Belgians  reside  out  of 
their  own  country.  Indeed,  some  authorities  think 
that  these  returns  are  very  incomplete,  and  that  there 
are  more  than  that  number  of  Belgians  in  France 
alone. 

As  Belgium  contains  29,445  square  kilometers,  the 
density  of  population  in  1908  was  250.9  to  the  square 
kilometer,  or  649.5  to  the  square  mile.  This  density 
is  only  exceeded  in  Saxony,  a  kingdom  half  its  size. 
The  following  table  shows  the  population  at  the  end 
of  the  years  stated : 

Population  in  Years  Named 

1831  1846  1856  1866  1876 

3,785,814       4,337,196       4,529,560       4,827,833       5,336.185 

1880      1890      1900      1908 

5.520,009   6,069,321   6,693,548   7.386,444 

136 


POPULATION  AND  SOCIAL  MATTERS  137 

Dividing  the  poulation  among  the  Nine  Provinces,  the  fol- 
lowing are  the  returns  for  each  of  them  in  1908: 

Antwerp  559,218 

Brabant    1,454,363 

Hainaut   1,229,103 

East   Flanders 1,111,001 

West    Flanders 871,636 

Liege    894,938 

Limburg    269,442 

Luxemburg    232,254 

Namur   364,489 

Total   7,386,444 

The  average  annual  increase  in  the  population 
during  the  last  forty  years  has  been  one  per  cent. 
The  increases  in  the  three  decennial  periods  that  fol- 
low were: 

1866-76 10.53  per  cent 

1880-90 9.95  per  cent 

1890-1900 10.28  per  cent 

The  increase  for  the  eight  years  alone  from  1900  to 
1908  has  been  at  the  rate  of  10.35,  and  by  the  end  of 
1910  it  seemed  likely  to  reach  12,  which  would  place 
Belgium  as  a  growing  country  on  a  level  with  Ger- 
many and  Italy.  The  increase  in  population  varies  in 
the  different  provinces.  It  has  been  greatest  in  Ant- 
werp, which  increased  by  17  per  cent  between  1890 
and  1900,  and  in  Brabant,  where  the  increase  was 
14.23.  Between  1846  and  1900  the  population  of 
Antwerp  doubled,  whereas  for  the  whole  kingdom 
the  increase  was  only  54  per  cent.  Among  the  towns, 
Ostend,  Antwerp,  and  Brussels  in  their  order  show 
the  largest  increases.    In  1856  and  again  in  1866  there 


138  BELGIUM 

were  more  men  than  women  in  Belgium.     In  1908 

there  were  nearly  50,000  more  women. 

1856  1866  1908 

Men    2,271,783       2,419,639        3,669,022 

Women    2,257,777       2,408,194       3,717,422 

With    regard   to   the   Belgians   living   in   foreign 

countries,  the  following  are  the  totals  given  for  the 

seven  most  important  countries.     They  are  the  latest 

returns  available  in  all  cases,  but  they  do  not  relate 

to  the  same  year: 

Belgians  by  birth  resident  in 

France    395,498 

Holland    14,950 

Germany    12,421 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland 4,588 

Grand  Duchy,  the 3,891 

United  States,  the 29,848 

Argentina    5,634 

The  population  of  the  cities  and  towns  with  over 

100,000  inhabitants  was  as  follows  (1908)  : 

Brussels  and  its  eight  communes 637,807 

Antwerp   391,600 

Liege  175,870;  with  Seraing 218,508 

Ghent 163,763 

Bruges  had  53,897  as  against  48,673  in  1856,  a 

very  small  increase,  but  Courtrai  had  34,977  as  against 

22,216.    In  the  same  period  Ostend  rose  from  16,118 

to  42,606  (out  of  the  season).    Among  the  historical 

places  the  following  may  be  named: 

Town  Population  in  1856         Population  in  1908 

Louvain   30,765 42,001 

Malines    31,371 59,218 


POPULATION  AND  SOCIAL  MATTERS  139 

Mons    26,061 . . 27,349 

Tournai    30,824 37,640 

Charleroi    10,702 27,415 

Namur    24,716 32,047 

Ypres    16,698 17,542 

Verviers    27,115 48,583 

The  increase  in  the  urban  population  has  only  been 
remarkable  in  a  few  places.  At  Mons  and  Ypres  it 
has  been  infinitesimal. 

Considering  the  growth  of  the  Belgian  population, 
it  is  curious  to  note  that  it  has  been  due  not  so  much 
to  an  extraordinarily  high  birth  rate  as  to  a  low  death 
rate.  In  1908  there  were  24.89  births  per  thousand 
of  the  population,  but  in  Germany  the  ratio  was  32; 
France,  20.2 ;  England,  26.5 ;  Scotland,  27.2 ;  Italy, 
33.6;  Holland,  29.7;  Austria,  34.5;  Hungary,  36.3; 
and  Russia,  48.1.  The  total  births  in  the  year  named 
were  183,834,  and  the  total  deaths  were  121,964.  The 
death  rate  was  as  low  as  16.51  per  thousand.  For 
purposes  of  comparison  the  rates  in  the  other  coun- 
tries named  in  the  same  order  were:  Germany,  18; 
France,  19;  England,  14.7;  Scotland,  16.1;  Italy, 
22.2;  Holland,  15;  Austria,  22.4;  Hungary,  26.3;  and 
Russia,  30.  In  Belgium  the  male  deaths  are  52  per 
cent  and  the  female  48  of  the  grand  total. 

The  number  of  marriages  rose  from  26,484  in 
1830  to  57,564  in  1908.  The  proportion  in  the  former 
year  was  6.50  per  thousand  inhabitants  and  in  the 
latter  7.79.  The  highest  proportion  reached  was  8.70. 
This  occurred  in  the  year  1901.     The  total  for  the 


140  BELGIUM 

year  1908  showed  for  the  first  time  a  slight  diminu- 
tion as  compared  with  the  previous  year,  when  the 
number  was  58,660. 

The  number  of  illegitimate  children  is  decreasing, 
and  of  those  subsequently  legitimatized  increasing. 
In  1880  there  was  one  illegitimate  birth  to  12.89  legi- 
mate;  in  1908  one  illegitimate  to  15.23  legitimate. 
There  was  an  average  annual  increase  of  29  per  cent 
in  the  number  legitimatized  for  the  period  1891-1900 
as  compared  with  1881-90.  On  the  other  hand,  di- 
vorce and  suicide  showed  a  marked  increase.  In  1840 
there  was  only  one  divorce  to  1,175  marriages,  and 
in  1865  one  in  739,  but  in  1908  the  ratio  had  risen 
to  one  in  65.  It  is  only  right  to  say  that  the  increase 
has  occurred  chiefly  in  Brussels,  Antwerp,  and  Liege. 
In  the  two  Flanders  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any 
increase  at  all.  So  also  with  suicides.  In  1880  there 
were  441  suicides,  an  average  of  one  per  12,146  of 
the  population.  In  1908  there  were  970  suicides,  or 
one  per  7,616  of  the  inhabitants. 

Since  the  year  1867  the  total  number  of  immi- 
grants has  for  every  ten  years  exceeded  that  of  emi- 
grants; since  1890  this  has  been  true  of  every  year 
without  exception.  Although  there  has  been  a  nota- 
ble diminution  in  the  emigration  figures,  the  majority 
still  go  to  France — 54  per  cent  of  a  total  emigration 
of  32,294  souls  in  1908.  The  immigrants  in  that  year 
numbered  38,155,  of  whom  16,984,  or  44  per  cent, 
came  from  France. 


POPULATION  AND  SOCIAL  MATTERS  141 

The  decline  in  the  comparative  total  of  emigrants 
must  be  attributed  to  the  high  state  of  prosperity  in 
Belgium  as  much  as  to  the  stay-at-home  sentiments  of 
the  Belgian  peoples.  The  Walloons  rarely  emigrate 
with  the  fixed  intention  of  not  returning.  The  bulk 
of  Walloon  emigrants  are  those  who  are  attracted  by 
the  high  wages  offered  them  at  Gladbach  and  other 
German  manufacturing  towns,  and  they  always  return 
sooner  or  later.  The  Flemings  are  more  adventurous, 
and  in  both  Flanders  the  emigrants  still  exceed  the 
immigrants. 

In  the  twenty-five  years  ending  in  1908  the  num- 
ber of  lunatics  almost  doubled  as  compared  with  an 
increase  of  33  per  cent  in  the  population.  The  totals 
in  1833  were  4,454  men  and  4,309  women  (total, 
8,763),  and  in  1908,  8,975  men  and  7,959  women 
(total,  16,934). 

Since  1890  great  ameliorations  have  been  effected 
in  the  status  of  the  working  man.  In  that  year  there 
were  only  373  mutual  societies  for  his  relief  in  illness 
and  accident,  or  for  the  benefit  of  his  dependents 
after  death.  In  1908  the  number  recognized  by  the 
State  had  increased  to  7,945.  The  number  of  mem- 
bers rose  from  227,581  in  1900  to  605,670  in  1908, 
and  their  contributions  from  $580,052.20  in  the  pre- 
vious year  to  $1,748,749.60  in  the  latter.  The  majority 
of  these  societies  are  affiliated  to  the  State  Savings 
Bank. 


142  BELGIUM 

In  1892  new  regulations  were  made  for  the  provi- 
sion of  improved  workmen's  dwellings  with  State  aid. 
Under  them  advances  are  made  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  societies  for  the  purchase  or  building  of 
sanitary  houses  for  the  working  classes.  These  be- 
come the  occupiers'  property  on  a  sliding  scale  of 
repayment  combined  with  life  insurance.  In  1908 
$20,000,000  were  advanced  in  one  form  or  other  by 
the  Savings  Bank  for  the  amelioration  of  the  homes 
of  the  working  classes,  or  for  the  benefit  of  the  pen- 
sion and  death  funds  of  the  societies. 


CHAPTER  XI 


THE    COURT    AND    SOCIETY 


THE  Court  of  Belgium,  although  it  was  created 
under  what  might  almost  be  called  popular  in- 
fluences, has  established  as  severe  an  etiquette  as 
exists  at  larger  and  older  courts  with  historical  asso- 
ciations and  an  inherited  ceremonial.  This  tendency 
was  certainly  increased  under  the  influence  of  the  two 
successive  queens,  Marie  Louise  of  the  House  of 
Orleans,  and  Marie  Henriette  of  that  of  Hapsburg. 
The  first  King  was  a  great  upholder  of  the  monar- 
chical dignity,  and,  during  a  long  period  of  his  reign, 
showed  it  by  keeping  himself  in  a  state  of  seclusion 
from  his  Ministers.  He  was  never  easily  accessible 
to  any  one.  Such  a  charge  cannot  be  brought  against 
his  son,  King  Leopold,  who  was  sometimes  accused 
of  being  too  easily  accessible,  because  he  wished  to 
see  men  with  his  own  eyes,  and  to  judge  them  and 
the  public  questions  with  which  they  were  connected 
for  himself.  But,  notwithstanding  this  personal  con- 
descension, the  regulation  of  Court  ceremonial  was 
just  as  strict  under  the  Second  Leopold  as  under  the 
First.     The  policy  of  "the  new  King  and  Queen  so 

143 


144  BELGIUM 

far  seems  to  be  a  happy  medium  between  too  much 
aloofness  and  too  much  familiarity. 

The  seat  of  the  Belgian  Court  is  the  Palace  of 
Brussels,  facing  the  park,  at  the  opposite  extremity 
of  which  stands  the  Palais  de  la  Nation  and  some  of 
the  Government  offices.  Between  the  Palace  of  the 
King  and  the  Palace  of  the  Nation  stretches  the  park 
which  once  formed  the  private  grounds  of  the  Palace 
of  the  Netherlands,  and  which  was  the  scene  of  the 
fighting  in  1830.  That  famous  royal  residence  which 
witnessed  the  abdication  of  Charles  V  was  burnt  down 
in  1731,  and  its  more  modest  successor  was  erected  by 
the  Archduchess  Marie  Christine  in  1782.  It  served 
as  the  royal  residence  under  the  Dutch  King  William 
I  and  the  two  Belgian  Leopolds.  No  attempt  to 
change  its  external  appearance  was  made  till  towards 
the  close  of  the  reign  of  Leopold  II.  The  State  rooms 
were  fine,  but  the  fagade  was  poor,  and  gave  a  rather 
mean  appearance  to  the  whole.  At  the  end,  too,  was 
the  Bellevue  Hotel,  which  was  held  under  a  lease 
dating  from  the  time  of  the  Empress  Maria  Theresa. 
A  private  hotel  did  not  add  to  the  dignity  of  the  pal- 
ace to  which  it  was  attached,  but  at  least  it  was  kept 
in  good  repair  and  looked  better  than  the  old  Hotel 
d'Assche  at  the  eastern  extremity,  which  was  used 
as  the  office  of  the  Civil  List. 

About  the  year  1903  it  was  decided  to  embellish 
the  Palace  by  giving  it  a  new  front,  and  as  a  begin- 
ning the  Bellevue  Hotel  was  acquired.    Belgian  opin- 


THE  COURT  AND  SOCIETY  145 

ion  is  very  sensitive  in  matters  of  personal  associa- 
tion. The  Bellevue  Hotel  had  played  a  part  in  the 
revolution  of  1830.  From  its  roof  a  Belgian  sports- 
man had  shot  twenty-one  Dutch  grenadiers,  and  a 
protest  was  raised  that  even  for  a  new  palace  front 
this  historic  landmark  should  not  be  removed.  This 
was  not  the  only  protest  of  the  kind.  The  new  fagade 
which  was  to  be  protected  by  a  railed  terrace,  en- 
croached to  such  an  extent  on  the  parvis  or  open 
square  in  front  of  the  palace  that  it  was  found  nec- 
essary to  cut  off  a  strip  of  the  park.  This  caused 
much  commotion,  not  because  it  diminished  the  ex- 
tent of  a  public  park,  but  because  it  threatened  the 
existence  of  the  historic  pits  in  which  the  Dutch 
buried  their  slain  in  September,  1830.  Assurances 
had  to  be  given  on  both  these  points  before  the  work 
could  be  taken  in  hand.  The  Bellevue  Hotel  was  to 
be  embellished,  but  left  intact  in  its  main  aspect,  and 
the  pits  were  not  to  be  filled  in.  Public  opinion  was 
thus  conciliated  with  regard  to  the  changes  necessi- 
tated by  the  new  Palace. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  new  Palace  is  a  very 
great  improvement  on  the  old.  It  has  quite  an  impos- 
ing front  in  Belgian  stone  with  a  fine  dome  crown- 
ing the  center.  At  either  extremity  is  a  columned 
terrace  or  belvidere  gallery.  The  public  is  also  ex- 
cluded from  the  walk  passing  under  the  palace  win- 
dows, and  kept  at  a  more  respectful  distance  by  an 
enclosed  terraced  garden.     All  State  dinners  and  re- 


146  BELGIUM 

ceptions  are  given  in  this  palace,  and  no  doubt  the 
new  King  and  Queen,  being  young,  will  entertain 
much  more  than  their  predecessors.  Notwithstanding 
the  improvements  effected  at  this  Palace  and  the  in- 
creased accommodation  furnished  by  the  addition  of 
another  story,  Brussels  is  never  likely  to  supplant 
Laeken  as  the  residence  and  home  of  the  Belgian 
royal  family. 

Before  passing  on,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the 
Bellevue  Hotel  has  been  converted  into  a  private 
residence  for  the  Princess  Clementine,  youngest 
daughter  of  Leopold  II,  who  is  now  married  to 
Prince  Napoleon,  the  head  of  his  family.  Some  of 
these  days  it  seems  safe  to  assume  that  both  it  and 
the  Hotel  d'Assche,  which  has  also  been  left  intact, 
will  be  incorporated  in  the  Palace  to  which  they  are 
attached. 

Laeken,  which  lives  in  history  as  the  place  from 
which  Napoleon  wrote  his  order  for  the  Russian  ex- 
pedition, is  situated  on  the  northern  side  of  the  city, 
at  a  distance  of  about  four  miles  from  the  Park.  The 
old  chateau  was  burnt  down  in  1889,  but  it  was 
promptly  rebuilt  on  the  old  lines,  and  largely  added 
to  by  the  late  King  between  1903  and  1907.  It  was 
the  favorite  residence  of  both  the  Leopolds,  and  is 
famous  for  its  orangery  (part  of  the  original  build- 
ing), its  gardens  and  conservatories.  A  costly  Chi- 
nese pagoda  and  a  pavilion  were  among  the  embel- 
lishments added  by  Leopold  II.    At  Laeken  the  sover- 


/ 


THE  COURT  AND  SOCIETY  147 

eigns  have  been  accustomed  to  give  the  garden  parties 
which  closed  the  Court  season,  and  no  doubt  this  prac- 
tice, which  was  discontinued  after  the  death  of  Queen 
Marie  Henriette,  will  be  resumed  by  the  new  King 
and  Queen.  Although  not  without  a  certain  stateli- 
ness  in  its  ceremonial,  the  Belgian  Court  has  never 
been  a  very  gay  one,  various  circumstances  of  more 
or  less  public  notoriety  having  overshadowed  its  life. 
The  Belgian  monarchy  being  of  modern  creation  and 
founded  under  what  are  known  as  popular  conditions, 
there  is  not  much  scope  for  its  attaining  the  brilliance 
of  older  Courts,  but  at  least  it  may  be  made  brighter 
and  more  in  evidence  than  has  been  the  case  for  the 
past  forty  years. 

In  Belgium,  the  society  that  would  be  deemed 
eligible  for  attendance  at  Court  is  divided  into  three 
principal  sections  —  the  nobility,  the  official  world, 
and  the  most  prominent  individuals  among  the  mon- 
eyed, literary,  and  artistic  classes.  The  members  of 
the  Legislature  have  a  right,  subject  to  the  Sover- 
eign's pleasure  and  convenience,  to  be  received  at  the 
Palace  by  the  Sovereign  on  New  Year's  Day,  but 
sometimes  this  ceremony  has  been  omitted.  They 
have  no  right  to  attend  the  regular  Court  receptions 
in  their  character  of  legislators,  and  if  any  of  them 
are  invited,  it  is  because  they  possess  what  are  held 
to  be  the  suitable  qualifications. 

With  regard  to  the  nobility,  it  is  extremely  exclu- 
sive, and  not  very  numerous  if  it  be  counted  by  the 


148  BELGIUM 

separate  families.  The  Belgian  lizre  d'or  is  supposed 
to,  and  practically  does,  take  no  note  of  titles  created 
since  1830.  The  noble  class  may  be  subdivided 
among  the  holders  of  titles  of  the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire (that  is  to  say,  prior  to  the  cessation  of  Austrian 
rule  in  1794),  a  few  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon's  crea- 
tion, and  a  slightly  larger  number  of  creations  by  the 
Dutch  King  William  I  between  1815  and  1830.  The 
Belgian  kings  since  1831  have  the  right  to  confer  the 
titles  of  count  and  baron  (provided  the  decree  is 
countersigned  by  a  Minister),  but  it  has  been  very 
sparingly  used.  As  a  rule,  the  recipients  have  well 
deserved  the  honor,  but  its  conference  does  not  secure 
admission  within  the  charmed  circle  of  the  classe 
noble. 

There  are  a  few  historic  families  among  the  noble 
class  of  the  southern  Netherlands,  such  as  the  De 
Lignes,  the  D'Arenbergs  (now  also  Le  Lignes),  the 
Croys  (pronounced  Cro-ees),  the  Chimays,  de 
Merodes,  de  Lalaings,  de  Lannoys,  D'Assches,  D'Ur- 
sels,  and  D'Oultremonts.  Members  of  these  families 
have  played  their  part  in  history  since  the  time  of  the 
Crusades,  and  some  of  them  are  better  known  in 
Vienna  or  Berlin  than  in  Brussels.  In  any  case,  they 
occupy  a  place  quite  apart,  and  are  entirely  independ- 
ent of  all  Court  favor.  Their  indifference  to  the  sov- 
ereign's favor  is  a  curious  feature  in  Belgian  social 
life,  not  perhaps  to  be  paralleled  elsewhere.  Leopold  I 
once  expressed  the  opinion  however,  that  "What  we 


THE  COURT  AND  SOCIETY  149 

have  of  the  old  nobility  is  very  patriotic."  Below 
these  nine  or  ten  families  come  perhaps  thirty  more, 
whose  names  would  be  practically  unknown  to  the 
English  reader,  although  they  possess  the  full  privi- 
leges of  the  golden  book.  Then  we  have  the  few 
French  or  Dutch  creations,  and  that  contsitutes  the 
highest  circle  in  Belgian  society. 

It  is  not  very  easy  to  describe  it  as  a  wealthy  aris- 
tocracy or  the  reverse,  but  great  landed  estates  are 
rare,  and  the  resources  accumulated  in  the  last  cen- 
tury are  due  to  strict  economy  and  careful  husband- 
ing. A  safe  description  would  be  to  describe  is  as 
comfortably  off,  and  free  from  ostentation.  The  no- 
bility are  not  at  all  given  to  extensive  entertaining 
among  themselves,  and  the  principal  entertainments 
are  held  in  common  at  a  Nobles'  Club,  which  gives 
three  or  four  balls  during  the  season.  The  code  of 
the  aristocracy  has  been  rigid  on  the  point  that  its 
members  must  not  take  up  with  commerce,  trade,  or 
finance,  and  formerly  even  the  official  service  was 
taboo.  Owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  increase  of  numbers, 
the  latter  point  has  been  waived  and  an  increasing 
number  of  cadets  find  their  way  into  the  chief  Gov- 
ernment departments.  Until  this  change  came  into 
operation,  the  army  and  the  church  offered  the  only 
available  professions.  The  officers  of  the  two  Guides 
regiments  come  mainly  from  this  class  and  latterly 
there  has  been  a  tendency  to  join  the  Lancer  regi- 
ments and  even  the  Grenadiers. 


150  BELGIUM 

With  regard  to  the  purely  official  world  it  has 
always  enjoyed  a  favored  position  in  Belgium.  The 
Palace  has  ever  looked  with  a  friendly  eye  on  the 
bureaucrats  as  a  sort  of  buffer  against  the  politicians. 
The  new  titles  have  been  principally  granted  among 
permanent  officials.  All  officials  above  the  junior 
grades  in  the  five  principal  ministries,  viz.,  Foreign 
Affairs,  War,  Finance,  Interior,  and  Public  Works, 
could  rely  on  an  invitation  to  Court  functions  pro- 
vided they  wished  it,  and  at  least  they  would  be  pres- 
ent at  the  annual  reception  of  the  Civil  Service  which 
followed  upon  that  of  the  legislature.  In  the  social 
life  of  Brussels  the  heads  of  departments,  usually 
called  General  Secretaries,  are  received  everywhere, 
because  all  the  world  likes  to  get  official  information, 
even  when  it  is  a  thin  dilution  of  truth,  or  specially 
made  up  to  mislead.  The  noble  class  has  been  averse 
to  replenish  or  strengthen  the  public  service,  but  it 
receives  as  a  welcome  and  honored  guest  the  official 
who  has  the  time  and  inclination  to  pass  through  their 
salons.  Prominent  among  such  officials  was  the  late 
Baron  Lambermont,  long  the  permanent  secretary  at 
the  Foreign  Office.  < 

We  now  come  to  the  third  class  in  the  composition 
of  Court  life,  the  magnates  of  finance,  and  the  leaders 
of  the  literary  and  art  worlds.  The  first-named  were 
the  last  to  gain  admission,  but  they  are  now  the  most 
prominent  of  all.  La  haute  finance  (high  finance,  as 
we  call  it)  has  a  firm  foothold  in  Brussels,  and  has 


THE  COURT  AND  SOCIETY  151 

sapped  the  old  exclusive  position  of  the  noblesse. 
The  Quartier  Leopold  is  moving  with  the  times.  The 
Jewish  colony  is  one  of  the  most  important  even  in 
that  exclusive  faubourg,  and  it  dispenses  a  hospitality 
not  to  be  met  with  among  any  other  set  in  Belgium. 
Next  to  the  financier,  who  is  with  some  rare  excep- 
tions a  Jew,  come  the  great  industrials  who  have  risen 
to  prominence  with  the  development  of  Antwerp  and 
Liege,  Ghent  and  Brussels.  These  men  are  chiefly 
Belgians,  the  Jews  only  coming  into  prominence  in 
the  world  of  pure  finance;  the  old  laws  of  Belgium, 
curiously  enough,  provided  that  money  matters  should 
be  the  concern  of  Jews  and  Lombards  alone.  In  this 
section  of  Belgian  society,  also,  a  more  cosmopolitan 
and  less  exclusive  manner  is  observable. 

Fifty  years  ago  literary  and  artistic  merit  filled  a 
larger  place  in  the  estimation  of  the  temporal  powers 
of  Belgium  than  it  has  now  done  for  some  time  past. 
In  the  days  of  Henri  Conscience  and  Lavelaye  (who 
had  other  qualifications)  letters  were  a  surer  passport 
to  the  throne-room  at  the  Palace  than  great  wealth. 
Nowadays  it  is  different.  Perhaps  it  is  due  to  the 
circumstance  that  literature  in  Belgium  furnishes  a 
very  poor  career,  or  it  may  be  that  there  are  no  lit- 
erary giants  today.  Writers,  pamphleteers,  and  press- 
men took  the  most  prominent  part  in  organizing  the 
revolution  of  1830,  the  revolution  itself  was  followed 
by  a  great  literary  revival,  and  a  galaxy  of  literary 
talent  ornamented  the  reign  of  Leopold  I.     But  the 


152  BELGIUM 

times  have  become  more  materialistic  in  Belgium. 
Literature  is  slighted  if  it  has  not  lost  caste.  There 
are  no  longer  the  same  men.  The  writers  who  appear 
now  at  Court  are  there  for  some  other  reason.  They 
are  priests  or  judges,  or  at  the  least  one  of  the  popular 
instructors  called  conferenciers.  The  same  observa- 
tion applies  to  art.  The  bureaucratic  and  moneyed 
classes  have  ousted  the  purely  intellectual,  and  so  far 
as  can  be  seen  there  is  no  likelihood  of  the  balance 
being  readjusted.  The  noticeable  defect  in  Bel- 
gian life  is  that  the  ideal  and  purely  intellectual  has 
been  swamped  and  driven  out  by  the  materialistic 
tendencies  of  a  mainly  industrial  and  strictly  money- 
making  state  of  society. 

With  regard  to  the  official  world,  apart  from  its 
relations  with  the  Court,  there  is  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  it  is  thoroughly  efficient,  fully  capable  of 
dealing  with  the  matters  that  come  before  it  in  the 
course  of  duty,  and  free  of  all  suspicion  of  being 
amenable  to  bribery.  This  is  the  more  creditable  be- 
cause the  salaries  and  rewards  are  framed  on  a  low 
scale,  the  active  service  is  for  a  much  longer  period 
of  life  than  with  us,  and  the  conditions  of  the  pension 
list  are  somewhat  vigorous  and  elusive.  The  induce- 
ments to  retire  are  so  few  that  men  remain  on  the 
active  list  to  the  very  last  possible  moment,  and  there 
is  no  civil  service  in  Europe  with  such  a  large  pro- 
portion of  old  men  in  the  higher  ranks.  Under  new 
regulations  that  are  adopted  in  principle,  if  not  yet 


THE  COURT  AND  SOCIETY  153 

applied  in  practice,  there  will  be  compulsory  retire- 
ment at  the  age  of  seventy.  These  observations  apply, 
of  course,  only  to  the  staff  of  the  great  Departments 
of  State  and  not  to  the  minor  posts  filled  by  em- 
ployees of  the  Government  throughout  the  country, 
such  as  railway  clerks  and  tax  collectors. 


CHAPTER  XII 


BURGHER  LIFE  IN  BRUSSELS 


I^HE  typical  life  of  the  Belgian  people  is  perhaps 
to  be  found  best  revealed  in  the  household  of 
the  Brussels  citizen.  Leaving  aside  the  very  small 
stratum  of  what  may  be  called  Society,  the  mode  of 
life  among  the  great  body  of  citizens,  above  the  work- 
ing classes,  is  very  much  the  same,  notwithstanding 
the  differences  of  income,  occupation,  and  education. 
Whether  the  head  of  the  household  be  a  lawyer  or  a 
trader,  a  manufacturer  or  a  shopkeeper,  who  is  well 
enough  off  to  live  away  from  his  shop,  there  is  less 
class  difference,  so  far  as  the  daily  routine  of  life 
goes,  than  would  be  found  in  any  other  European 
community  —  in  fact,  middle-class  life  in  Belgium 
very  much  resembles  that  of  America.  The  explana- 
tion is  that  at  heart  the  Belgians  are  a  simple  people, 
whose  chief  characteristic,  strengthened  by  hard  ex- 
perience for  many  years,  is  thrift.  There  is  a  com- 
plete absence  of  all  ostentatious  display.  It  would 
be  as  impossible  to  estimate  a  man's  income  from 
the  exterior  of  his  house  as  it  would  be  to  assign  his 
profession  or  business  from  his  appearance  in  the 
street.  This  appearance  of  equality  is  very  largely 
due  to  the  two  not  disconnected  facts,  that  the  first 

154 


BURGHER  LIFE  IN  BRUSSELS  155 

object  with  every  Brussels  citizen  is  to  become  pro- 
prietor of  his  own  house  and  that  the  houses  of  Brus- 
sels are  built  very  much  after  the  same  pattern.  This, 
of  course,  does  not  apply  to  the  fashionable  boule- 
vards or  the  Avenue  Louise,  but  in  all  the  by-streets 
and  suburbs  now  spreading  out  in  every  direction, 
houses  are  being  run  up,  lofty  and  narrow,  all  seem- 
ingly fashioned  by  the  same  architect.  The  Beligans 
have  an  aversion  to  being  mere  tenants,  regarding  the 
payment  of  rent  as  so  much  loss  of  money;  and  a 
house  or  the  money  to  purchase  one,  is  considered 
the  best  kind  of  a  dot  that  a  young  woman  can  bring 
to  her  husband.  The  price  of  a  house  containing 
seven  rooms,  besides  kitchen,  runs  from  $5,000  in 
the  fashionable  suburbs  like  St.  Giles,  to  $2,500  in 
the  outer  suburbs  like  Etterbeck.  There  is,  in  addi- 
tion, a  tax  of  ten  per  cent  payable  to  the  commune, 
with  a  share  to  the  State,  on  the  conclusion  of  the 
purchase.  Having  paid  the  price,  the  proprietor  is 
practically  relieved  from  all  annual  payments  for  the 
taxes  to  the  commune  are  exceedingly  low,  and  do 
not  amount  to  more  than  six  per  cent  on  the  estimated 
rent,  which  is  about  one-eleventh  of  the  purhcase 
sum.  Ten  per  cent  will  pay  the  commune,  the  supply 
water,  and  that  of  gas  as  well,  and  for  this  reason 
Brussels  has  been  called  the  paradise  of  the  small 
householder.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  free  pos- 
session of  a  house  lies  at  the  root  of  the  Belgian 
citizen's  comfort,  and  explains  how,  with  a  very  small 


156  BELGIUM 

income,  he  can  occupy  a  decent  house  which  exter- 
nally does  not  differ  materially  from  one  the  occupant 
of  which  may  have  ten  times  his  income. 

It  is  only  on  entering  these  houses  that  some  idea 
can  be  formed  of  the  status  of  the  occupant.  Among 
those  families  whose  income  is  not  in  proportion  to 
the  exterior  of  their  residence,  the  interior  will  re- 
veal the  fact  by  its  bareness  and  absence  of  decora- 
tion, whereas  those  who  are  comfortably  well  off  will 
spend  large  sums  on  painting  and  gilding.  The  Bel- 
gians are  noted  for  their  good  taste  in  the  way  they 
decorate  the  inside  of  their  houses,  and  as  the  house 
is  really  theirs,  they  do  not  mind  spending  very  con- 
siderable sums  in  this  way.  It  is  the  same  with  the 
furniture,  which  is  always  as  good  as  the  owner  can 
afford  in  the  reception  rooms.  Every  Belgian  house 
has  what  may  be  called  its  show-rooms,  and  their 
contents  will  give  the  clue  at  once  to  the  degree  of 
prosperity  the  family  has  attained.  There  may  be 
$5,000  worth  of  furniture  and  objets  d'art  in  the 
room,  or  there  may  be  only  $50  worth.  In  either  case 
it  is  the  best  that  the  owner  can  show. 

There  is  one  thing  that  these  rooms  have  in  com- 
mon, no  matter  what  the  position  of  the  occupant, 
and  that  is  the  air  of  being  rarely  used.  It  is  more 
like  the  model  room  into  which  the  furniture  merchant 
invites  his  customer  for  the  purpose  of  deciding  the 
style  in  which  he  proposes  to  furnish,  than  an  actual 
living-room.    The  Belgian's  first  investment  is  to  buy 


BURGHER  LIFE  IN  BRUSSELS  157 

his  house,  and  his  second  is  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  fur- 
niture. As  both  are  intended  not  merely  to  last  a  life- 
time, but  to  be  handed  down  in  the  family,  the  most 
scrupulous  care  is  taken  in  selecting  every  article. 
A  shade  of  anxiety  may  be  traced  on  the  worthy 
owner's  face  if  a  visitor  moves  in  a  chair  or  brushes 
past  a  table.  Sometimes  these  good  people  let  off  a 
floor,  often  to  English  visitors,  with  the  view  of  sav- 
ing something  for  a  holiday,  or  through  some  needed 
economy;  and  if  the  rooms  are  well-furnished,  the 
urgent  request  is  made  not  to  spoil  the  furniture  ('il 
ne  faut  pas  abimer  les  meubles').  I  knew  of  a  case 
where  the  iteration  of  this  injunction  became  so  irk- 
some that  the  English  tenants  left  twenty-four  hours 
after  the  entry,  because  they  were  afraid  to  sit  on  the 
chairs.  .  .3^ 

Into  the  regular  living-rooms  no  stranger  is  al- 
lowed to  penetrate,  but  the  casual  opportunities  af- 
forded during  long  residence  in  the  country  enables 
one  to  see  that  they  are  very  bare  and  plain.  As  a 
rule,  the  dining-room  is  in  close  proximity  to  the 
kitchen,  so  that  the  necessary  domestic  service  is  re- 
duced to  a  minimum.  There  is,  of  course,  in  most 
houses  a  dining-room  upstairs,  but  this  is  only  used  on 
the  very  rare  occasions  when  an  entertainment  of  some 
sort  is  given.  The  Belgians  are  not  prone  to  the 
display  of  much  hospitality  among  themselves.  They 
do  not  dine  often  at  one  another's  houses.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  same  family  meet  occasionally,  but,  as  a 


158  BELGIUM 

rule,  their  dinners  in  common  are  to  celebrate  some 
family  event,  such  as  a  marriage,  or  an  engagement, 
or  a  first  communion.  The  case  is  practically  un- 
known of  taking  a  friend  home  to  have  "pot-luck." 
To  do  so  would  seriously  disconcert  the  lady  of  the 
house,  who  is  probably  in  neglige  until  she  goes  for 
her  afternoon  promenade. 

The  life  of  the  house,  like  the  life  of  the  whole 
country,  begins  at  an  early  hour.  By  eight  o'clock 
probably  every  family  in  Brussels  will  have  finished 
their  breakfast,  and  if  they  are  near  the  markets  in 
the  lower  town  or  in  the  communes,  each  of  which 
has  its  market,  they  will  have  purchased  their  provi- 
sions as  well.  This  early  rising  is  indispensable,  as 
all  the  offices,  and  in  fact  the  whole  business  of  the 
city,  commence  work  at  nine  punctually.  This  means 
that  the  person  engaged  must  leave  his  house  be- 
tween eight  and  half-past  eight,  in  accordance  with 
the  distance  he  has  to  travel ;  but  as  there  are  electric 
trams  now  in  all  directions,  the  journey,  from  even 
the  outer  suburbs,  can  generally  be  accomplished  with 
much  rapidity.  The  Belgians  take  only  a  light  break- 
fast, which  is  almost  universally  cafe  au  hit,  rolls  and 
butter;  but  of  late  years  the  doctors  have  been  rec- 
ommending a  more  substantial  meal  after  the  Eng- 
lish fashion.  Those  who  are  not  too  pressed  in  the 
morning  by  their  occupations  are  now  adding  to  their 
breakfast  one  or  two  dishes,  but  such  luxuries,  as  they 


BURGHER  LIFE  IN  BRUSSELS  159 

are  called,  are  taken  by  but  a  very  small  number  of 
persons. 

The  offices  close  at  twelve,  and  all  business  is 
stopped  at  that  hour  for  the  purpose  of  dining.  The 
men  who  have  rushed  off  in  the  morning  to  be  at 
their  posts  in  good  time,  rush  back  to  their  houses 
at  a  still  greater  speed  to  enjoy  the  chief  meal  of  the 
day.  By  this  time  the  stimulating  effect  of  the  morn- 
ing coffee  has  long  worn  off,  and  the  bread-winners 
are  simply  faint  and  famishing.  It  is  perilous  to 
protract  an  interview  with  a  Belgian  official  when  the 
clock  hand  points  to  ten  minutes  to  twelve.  Polite- 
ness will  scarcely  prevent  his  displaying  the  anxiety 
and  displeasure  with  which  he  begins  to  apprehend 
that  some  minutes  of  his  cherished  two  hours  are 
going  to  be  poached  from  him.  The  best  business  in 
the  country  is  done  before  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  After  that  hour  it  is  no  exaggeration  to 
say  that  the  needs  of  exhausted  nature  begin  to  assert 
themselves. 

The  midday  meal,  which  commences,  as  a  general 
rule,  at  half-past  twelve,  is  the  most  substantial  of 
the  whole  day.  It  is  always  a  hot  repast  and  always 
opens  with  soup.  The  Belgians  are  hearty,  not  to 
say  great,  eaters,  and  it  takes  a  good  hour  to  allay 
their  hunger.  The  general  drink  is  beer — wine  is 
drunk  rarely  and  sparingly — and  a  cup  of  black  cof- 
fee is  taken  at  the  end  as  a  digestive  rather  than  as  a 
stimulant,  and  then  the  journey  is  made  back  to  the 


160  BELGIUM 

office  or  business,  which  resumes  work  at  two  o'clock. 
The  work  of  the  afternoon  is  done  more  leisurely 
than  that  of  the  morning,  and  chiefly  consists  of  the 
correspondence  resulting  out  of  the  transactions  of 
the  morning.  The  offices  work  late,  always  till  six, 
and  often  till  seven  or  after.  Then  the  more  or  less 
weary  toiler  returns  home  to  his  supper,  which  is  a 
simple  meal,  probably  the  remains  of  the  dinner,  as- 
sisted with  something  purchased  on  the  way  back 
from  a  charcutier.  Having  to  get  up  so  early,  the 
Brussels  citizen  always  goes  to  bed  in  good  time. 
Very  soon  after  nine  o'clock  all  the  lights  are  out  in 
the  ordinary  household  five  nights  out  of  seven.  The 
Belgian  is  not  a  reader;  the  morning  and  evening 
newspapers  satisfy  all  his  wants  in  that  direction; 
hence  there  is  nothing  to  keep  him  from  his  well- 
earned  repose. 

The  life  an  restaurant  is  a  far  less  marked  feature 
in  Brussels  than  in  Paris.  It  is  rather  expensive,  even 
at  the  cheapest  restaurants,  and  the  family  man  will 
only  indulge  in  it  occasionally.  Those  whose  work 
lies  in  the  lower  town,  where  the  bourse  and  business 
offices  are,  sometimes  are  obliged  to  take  their  din- 
ner in  one  of  the  numerous  second-class  restaurants 
off  the  Boulevard  Anspach.  In  any  of  these  a  hot 
plat,  with  beer  and  coffee  afterwards,  can  be  obtained 
for  thirty  cents.  In  the  same  quarter  of  the  town, 
but  chiefly  round  the  Grand  Place  and  the  square  of 
the  Monnaie  theater,  are  some  of  the  first  restaurants 


BURGHER  LIFE  IN  BRUSSELS  161 

of  the  city:  the  Filet  de  Sole,  the  Riche,  the  Etoile, 
no  longer  what  it  was  in  the  reign  of  M.  Dot,  the 
Gigot  de  M  out  on,  etc.  Fashion  and  excellence  vary, 
suddenly  and  without  aparent  reason ;  but  perhaps  the 
best  cooking  in  Brussels  is  now  to  be  had  at  the  Filet 
de  Sole  and  the  Provencaux,  while  at  the  Globe, 
which  is  far  less  expensive  than  either,  the  cuisine  is 
surprisingly  good.  But  if  the  Brussels  paterfamilias 
does  not  habitually  patronize  the  restaurant,  he  makes 
a  great  effort  to  dine  out  on  Sunday  evening,  and  to 
take  the  grown-up  members  of  his  family  with  him. 
He  may  not,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  be  able  to  do  this 
more  than  once  a  month,  but  during  the  summer  he 
will  probably  patronize  every  week  one  or  the  other 
of  the  cafes  encircling  the  Bois  de  la  Cambre,  and 
take  his  Sunday  supper  with  his  family  al  fresco. 
Even  if  the  repast  is  limited  to  one  dish  for  himself 
and  his  wife,  tartines  or  gauffres  for  the  children,  he 
will  sit  there  the  whole  evening  drink '  .g  not  immod- 
erately light  beer.  It  is  a  significant  indication  of  the 
prevalence  of  the  same  views  of  life  throughout  the 
nation,  that  while  the  humble  citizen  is  enjoying  him- 
self in  the  less  pretentious  cafes,  Society  is  doing  very 
much  the  same  thing  on  the  terrace  of  the  fashionable 
Laiterie  in  the  Bois,  or  farther  off  at  Groenendael, 
which  is  reached  by  a  delightful  drive  through  part 
of  the  old  forest  of  Soignies.  Then  the  concerts 
given  in  the  Vauxhall  Gardens  by  the  orchestra  of  the 
opera  are  an  additional  attraction,  and  on  Sundays 


162  BELGIUM 

in  particular  bring  together  a  large  audience  outside 
the  enclosure.  To  get  an  idea  of  the  real  life  of 
Brussels,  one  must  go  about  the  Boulevards  and  to  the 
popular  resorts  on  Sunday  evenings.  Then  the  people 
can  be  seen  enjoying  themselves  in  their  own  quiet, 
undemonstrative  way,  and  if  there  is  some  music 
going  on  their  contentment  is  complete.  A  band  is 
maintained  by  the  municipality,  and  plays  daily  in  the 
park  fronting  the  palace.  Military  bands  also  play 
there  occasionally,  and  in  the  Bois.  The  band  of  the 
regiment  of  Guides  is  first-rate  and  has  been  heard  in 
London  and  Paris. 

One  of  the  most  marked  predilections  of  the  Bel- 
gian character  is  his  enthusiasm  for  music.  Most 
nations  are  ruled  by  laws,  but  it  would  be  easier  to 
govern  the  Belgians  by  music.  Every  commune,  not 
merely  in  Brussels  but  throughout  Belgium,  has  its 
band  or  symphonic,  and  most  of  those  of  any  size  or 
importance  have  two,  for  politics  come  into  question. 
There  will  be  the  Catholic  Band  and  the  Liberal  Band, 
and  even  the  Socialists — with  a  program  destructive 
of  everything  else  that  is  national — conform  to  the 
popular  feeling  and  march  to  the  sound  of  drums  and 
trumpets.  The  chief,  or  at  least  the  most  frequent, 
occasion  for  the  public  appearance  of  these  bands  is 
for  the  funeral  of  some  old  or  prominent  resident, 
when  the  symphonie  commttnale  will  attend  and  lead 
the  procession  to   the  strains   of   the   Dead   March. 


BURGHER  LIFE  IN  BRUSSELS  163 

But  in  their  own  halls  they  always  give  one  or  two 
concerts  in  the  course  of  a  year. 

Bearing  in  mind  this  trait,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  opera  is  exceedingly  popular.  The  Theatre  de  la 
Monnaie  is  an  opera  house,  not  a  theater,  and  is  noted 
for  the  excellence  of  its  orchestra  and  general  man- 
agement. It  has  a  remarkably  long  season,  beginning 
in  October  and  going  on  without  interruption  to  May. 
A  very  fair  company  is  attached  to  the  theater,  and 
occasionally  singers  with  a  European  reputation  are 
engaged  for  a  time.  This  is  especially  the  case  after 
Easter.  Formerly,  debutantes  of  exceptional  promise 
rather  inclined  to  the  Monnaie  as  the  scene  for  their 
first  appearance,  because  they  might  feel  sure  that, 
if  they  had  the  least  claim  to  merit,  the  appreciative 
Brussels  audience  would  give  them  a  cordial  greet- 
ing; and  in  the  event  of  failure  none  would  be  more 
indulgent. 

Brussels  is  well  known  in  the  musical  world  for  its 
excellent  College  of  Music,  and,  indeed,  the  facilities 
for  studying  music  in  all  its  branches  are  great,  and 
to  be  enjoyed  at  a  very  reasonable  charge,  any  Bel- 
gian student  of  promise  paying  nothing  at  all.  For 
this  reason  many  English  and  other  foreign  families 
take  up  their  residence  in  Brussels  and  send  their 
sons  or  daughters  to  the  Conservatoire,  in  the  Rue  de 
la  Regence,  where  they  have  to  pay  only  $40  a  year. 
This  institution  enjoys  a  State  subsidy,  and  is  more  or 
less  under  State  direction,  showing  that  the  Govern- 


164  BELGIUM 

ment  recognizes  the  importance  music  has  in  the  es- 
timation of  the  public.  The  concerts  given  by  the 
students  at  the  end  of  each  term,  in  connection  with 
the  distribution  of  prizes,  are  attended  by  great 
crowds.  Owing  to  the  large  number  of  persons  in- 
terested, tickets  are  only  distributed  to  the  relatives 
of  the  students  attending  the  college.  A  large  number 
of  Conservatoire  certificate-holders  have  become  sub- 
sequently famous  in  the  ranks  of  musicians  and  sing- 
ers. Concerts  are  given  occasionally  by  well-known 
performers  at  the  Salle  d'Harmonie,  at  the  bottom  of 
the  Montagne  de  la  Cour;  and  when  that  hall  is  too 
small  for  the  audience  expected,  in  the  large  theater 
called  the  Alhambra.  There  is  not  a  house  exclusively 
reserved  for  light  opera  in  Brussels,  but  the  Monnaie 
has  of  late  years  somewhat  extended  its  program  from 
its  old  restricted  cultivation  of  the  grand  opera. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   MINERS  OF  THE  BORINAGE 

ONE  of  the  most  remarkable  centers  of  national 
life  is  to  be  found  in  the  coal-mining  districts 
known  as  "le  Borinage,"  which  signifies  the  place  of 
boring.  Here  is  to  be  found  a  state  of  society  that 
does  not  exist  in  any  other  part  of  the  country,  and 
tha  miners  are  a  type  quite  distinct  from  the  rest  of 
their  countrymen.  It  would  be  unfair  to  judge  other 
Belgians  by  the  mining  population,  which  has  been 
allowed  to  sink — not  merely  by  the  character  of  their 
work,  but  by  the  deficiencies  of  education-  supple- 
mented by  the  poisonous  effect  of  the  fiery  and  dele- 
terious beverages  which  the  miners  too  freely  imbibe 
— into  a  state  of  physical  and  mental  decay. 

The  Borinage  district  lies  south  of  Mons,  but  it 
extends  westward  as  far  as  Quievrain,  on  the  line  to 
Valenciennes.  The  mines  now  extend  further  north 
than  the  original  Borinage  district,  and  the  railway 
from  Tournai  to  Charleroi,  passing  by  Mons  and 
Marchienne,  traverses  for  a  great  part  of  the  distance 
the  mining  district,  the  trollies  passing  from  the  col- 
lieries to  railway  trucks,  or  canal  barges  overhead,  as 
the  train  glides  along.  The  whole  of  the  southern 
portion  of  the  province  of  Hainaut  is  given  up  to 

165 


166  BELGIUM 

mining  operations,  and  more  than  100,000  persons 
are  actually  employed  there.  Some  idea  of  the  impor- 
tance of  this  industry  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact 
that  whereas  the  output  sixty  years  ago  was  only  two 
million  tons  a  year,  it  now  exceeds  twenty-four  million 
tons.  The  mines  are  owned  by  joint-stock  companies ; 
there  are  no  royalties  to  land-owners,  and  the  State 
has  waived  any  claim  to  participate  in  the  profits, 
because  the  main  object  has  been  to  develop  national 
industry.  The  mines  of  Hainaut  have,  therefore,  been 
exploited  to  exceedingly  great  profit  by  the  small  body 
of  capitalists  who  became  interested  in  them  in  the 
first  place,  and  who  tried  to  keep  them  a  close  preserve 
until  the  shares  were  got  rid  of  at  high  premiums  on 
the  Bourse.  The  halcyon  days  of  the  mine-owners 
were  those  before  the  organization  of  labor.  Then 
the  Belgian  miners  toiled  for  as  many  hours  under- 
ground as  he  would  have  done  above,  and  he  received 
a  wage  which,  in  the  most  favorable  case,  did  not  reach 
$5  a  week.  That  is  many  years  ago,  but  it  had  been 
the  general  practice  during  more  than  two  generations, 
and  it  has  left  a  deep  if  not  indellible  mark  on  the  old 
mining  families.  Among  these  it  seems  as  if  there 
had  sprung  up  a  fresh  race  of  dwarfs,  men  under 
four  feet  eight  inches,  women  shorter  still,  and  chil- 
dren who  look  as  if  they  never  will  reach  even  this 
height.  They  are  stunted  and  emaciated,  and  they  are 
easily  distinguishable  from  the  rest  of  the  population 
as  the  third  and  fourth  generation  of  the  old  mining 


THE  MINERS  OF  THE  BORINAGE  167 

population.  At  Frameries  and  Paturages,  where  min- 
ing has  been  in  existence  for  a  century,  this  type  is 
very  obtrusive. 

In  no  country  of  Europe  did  the  miners  have  a 
harder  battle  to  fight  in  order  to  obtain  more  indul- 
gent treatment  and  a  fairer  living  wage  than  in  Bel- 
gium. The  extreme  ignorance  and  illiteracy  of  the 
miners  left  them  more  or  less  at  the  mercy  of  their 
masters,  and  outside  sympathy  and  support  were  long 
arrested  by  the  grave  assurance  that,  if  the  miners 
were  to  work  fewer  hours  and  to  receive  more  wages, 
the  Belgian  mines  could  not  compete  with  foreign 
mines,  and  would  have  to  close  altogether.  Of  course, 
there  was  not  the  least  ground  for  this  assertion,  but 
it  served  its  turn,  and  enabled  the  owners  to  remain 
for  a  longer  time  masters  of  the  situation.  This  state 
of  things  could  not  have  endured  as  long  as  it  did 
but  for  the  extremely  small  sum  upon  which  a  Bel- 
gian workman  can  maintain  his  family  and  himself. 

There  comes  an  end,  however,  to  any  system  that 
does  not  take  into  account  the  actual  necessities  and 
the  natural  aspirations  of  the  men  who  support  it. 
Capital  had  ruled  the  roost  in  Belgium  for  so  many 
years  that  it  looked  as  if  its  position  were  inexpung- 
able,  and  as  if  the  miners  were  consigned  to  perform 
the  part  of  helots  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  But  the 
labor  party  had  been  growing  steadily  in  influence 
and  organization  long  before  its  members  possessed  a 
vote,  and  the  spread  of  Socialism  was,  it  must  be  ad- 


168  BELGIUM 

mitted,  strengthened  by  the  legitimate  grievances  of 
the  labor  classes.  The  movement  of  the  Parti  Ouvrier 
reached  its  height  in  the  year  1892,  when  a  general 
strike  was  carried  out,  and  after  intense  suffering  the 
mining  population  rose  in  what  was  practically  armed 
rebellion  the  following  year.  At  Charleroi,  and 
throughout  the  Borinage  generally,  riots  occurred  and 
even  when  the  military  were  called  out  the  result  was 
left  doubtful.  A  more  serious  calamity  indeed  seemed 
not  impossible,  as  the  loyalty  of  the  young  troops  was 
called  in  question.  At  this  juncture  the  mine-owners 
gave  way  under  pressure  from  the  Government,  and 
a  new  scale  of  payment  was  introduced  which,  if  not 
all  that  the  men  desired,  was  fair  and  reasonable. 
By  this  scale  the  average  miner's  wage  was  raised  to 
between  twenty-five  and  thirty-five  shillings  ($6.25 
and  $8.75),  and  that  of  women  and  boys  from  $3  to 
$5.  The  maxima  might,  indeed,  be  greater  but  for 
the  protective  measures  adopted  by  the  miners  them- 
selves in  the  restriction  of  the  output.  The  labor  party 
organized  a  scale  of  production  which,  while  it  re- 
stricts the  maximum  earnings  of  any  workman,  en- 
sures the  prolonged  existence  of  the  mines  themselves. 
The  limit  thus  placed  on  the  output  of  any  single 
mines  has  rendered  it  more  necessary  to  discover  fresh 
mines  both  in  Hainaut  and  elsewhere.  And  the  great 
increase  in  production  in  recent  years  is  due  to  the 
new  fields  discovered  in  a  region  known  as  the  Cam- 
pine.     This  tract  of  country  is  a  barren  moorland  in 


THE  MINERS  OF  THE  BORINAGE  169 

the  province  of  Limburg,  and  the  town  of  Hasselt 
may  be  taken  as  its  central  point.  The  discovery  that 
coal  could  be  worked  here  in  paying  quantities  was 
made  in  the  year  1900,  but  before  the  State  would  give 
the  license  to  exploit  it  the  question  of  the  rights  in 
new  mines  had  to  be  discussed  in  the  Chamber,  and 
fresh  legislation  passed  on  the  subject.  A  fresh  na- 
tional asset  had  been  revealed,  but  for  a  time  it  looked 
as  if  the  Government  did  not  know  how  to  deal  with 
it.  The  rights  of  the  discoverer,  the  land-owner,  and 
the  State  had  to  be  defined,  and  the  miners  were  pro- 
pitiated by  new  laws  restricting  the  hours  of  labor  to 
eight  below  ground.  It  was  not  until  1909  that  all 
these  matters  were  settled*  and  the  first  joint-com- 
panies were  formed  to  work  the  new  mines.  Several 
shafts  have  been  sunk,  and  it  is  understood  that  the 
mines  are  promising,  but  no  statistics  are  yet  avail- 
able as  to  the  output. 

A  visit  to  the  Borinage  is  not  a  pleasant  experience, 
and  the  closer  the  acquaintance  made  with  the  life  of 
the  mining  population  the  less  attractive  does  it  appear. 
All  mining  work,  apparently,  must  be  accompanied 
by  a  deterioration  in  the  moral  as  well  as  the  phys- 
ical qualities  of  the  population  so  engaged,  and  this 
must  be  especially  marked  where  the  education  of  the 
people  has  been  notoriously  backward  and  neglected 
for  generations.  In  Hainaut  the  majority  of  the 
miners  are  illiterate,  and  this  condition  of  things  will 
not  be  altered  until  the  State  makes  education  com- 


170  BELGIUM 

pulsory,  and  places  restrictions  in  the  way  of  the  in- 
discriminate employment  of  children  in  the  mines; 
for  their  non-employment  underground  is  no  real 
remedy.  No  one  has  interested  himself  in  the  moral 
and  intellectual  development  of  this  class  of  the  popu- 
lation, because  the  State,  in  carrying  out  its  theory  of 
perfect  liberty,  does  not  concern  itself  with  such  mat- 
ters, and  leaves  the  whole  responsibility  to  the  com- 
mune and  the  parent,  while  the  Church  having  lost 
all  influence  over  the  mining  population,  is  only  too 
glad  that  these  hostile  classes  should  be  left  in  a  con- 
dition of  almost  utter  ignorance. 

But  the  most  potent  of  all  the  reasons  which  pro- 
duce this  result  is  that  boys  and  girls,  as  soon  as  they 
have  physical  strength,  which  is  supposed  to  be  at 
twelve  years  of  age,  are  taken  on  the  mining  estab- 
lishment and  employed  above  ground.  They  thus  be- 
come bread-winners,  and  the  smattering  of  learning 
that  they  may  have  acquired  as  infants  is  soon  reduced 
to  the  capacity  of  signing  their  names.  The  employ- 
ment of  children  of  tender  years  lies  at  the  root  of  the 
ignorance  of  the  people  of  the  greater  part  of  a  large 
province.  It  is  this  practice  which  has  led  to  the 
gross  immorality  among  the  mining  population — es- 
pecially that  immorality  that  takes  the  form  of  girl- 
mothers.  It  has  always  been  the  concomitant  of  the 
close  employment  of  the  two  sexes  in  mines  and  min- 
ing operations,  and  if  it  seems  somewhat  worse  in 
Hainaut  than  in  our  own  mining  districts,  it  is  because 


THE  MINERS  OF  THE  BORINAGE  171 

the  mining  population  of  Belgium  is  so  completely 
detached  and  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  community. 
To  the  proprietors,  with  rare  exceptions,  the  miners 
are  mere  beasts  of  burden,  in  whom  they  do  not  effect 
to  feel  the  least  interest.  No  steps  whatever  are  taken 
to  improve  the  lot  of  the  miners,  to  elevate  their 
ideas,  or  even  to  provide  them  with  amusement  or 
recreations.  There  are  no  clubs,  except  the  cercles 
of  the  Socialists,  and  the  only  places  of  resort  are  the 
estaminets  and  cabarets  that  are  to  be  found  in  prac- 
tically every  third  or  fourth  house.  A  premium  is 
placed  on  illegitimate  children.  The  miner  seeks  as 
a  wife  the  woman  who  has  had  the  greatest  number 
of  illegitimate  children,  because  they  will  contribute 
to  the  household  expenditure.  It  is  quite  a  common 
thing  to  find  in  a  miner's  house  a  married  man  with 
one  or  two  children  of  his  own,  and  four  or  even 
more  sons  and  daughters  of  the  wife  by  different  men 
in  the  prenuptial  state.  It  is  scarcely  going  too  far 
to  say  that  morality  does  not  exist  in  the  Borinage; 
but  the  greatest  curse  in  this  community  is  the  large 
number  of  immature  mothers,  and  the  consequent  in- 
separable deterioration  of  the  whole  race.  The  evil 
has  been  allowed  to  reach  such  a  pass  that  the  success 
of  any  remedies  must  now  be  slow  and  uncertain,  and 
as  yet  none  are  even  talked  of.  But  certainly  some- 
thing could  be  done  to  improve  education  and  to  re- 
strain the  employment  of  children.  No  doubt  the 
miners  themselves  would  at  first  be  most  determined 


172  BELGIUM 

opponents  of  any  such  change,  because  the  existing 
evils  are  mainly  due  to  their  own  selfishness  and  evil 
habits.  The  consequent  diminution  in  the  earnings 
of  the  family  could,  however,  be  made  up  by  the 
increased  exertions  of  the  men. 

Ignorance  and  immorality  explain  the  low  condi- 
tion to  which  the  mining  population  has  sunk,  but 
even  these  causes  would  not  have  been  supplemented 
and  aided  by  the  prevalence  of  drunkenness.  As  there 
is  no  restriction  on  the  sale  of  drink,  every  house  can 
retail  intoxicating  liquors,  and  in  many  places  where 
it  is  procurable  there  is  no  external  appearance  of  the 
place  being  a  drinking  shop.  The  room  of  the  cot- 
tage will  contain  a  few  chairs  and  benches,  besides  a 
table,  and  the  liquor  comes  from  a  cupboard  or  an 
inner  room.  In  warm  weather  the  table  and  chairs 
are  placed  outside,  and  on  Sundays  and  feast  days 
there  is  not  one  of  these  houses  which  will  not  be 
crowded  with  visitors.  The  only  amusement  known 
to  these  people  is  to  drink  and  get  drunk.  There  are 
no  abstainers  or  half  abstainers  among  them.  The 
only  distinction  between  beer-drinkers  and  spirit- 
drinkers,  the  beer-drinkers  are  the  more  reasonable 
drunkards  of  the  two.  Having  soaked  themselves 
with  faro,  they  sleep  it  off.  Not  so  the  spirit-drinkers, 
for  when  they  have  finished  their  orgies  they  are  half 
mad  with  the  poisonous  alcohol  which  they  have  im- 
bibed, and  the  greater  number  of  crimes  are  perpe- 
trated by  this  class  among  the  miners.     Crime  of  all 


THE  MINERS  OF  THE  BORINAGE  173 

kinds  is  prevalent,  and  the  reports  of  the  Hainaut 
assizes  are  not  pleasant  reading.  The  true  explana- 
tion of  the  evils  that  follow  this  spirit-drinking  is  to 
be  found  in  the  character  of  the  spirit  itself.  In 
name  it  is  gin  or  geniezre,  but  it  bears  little  or  no 
trace  of  that  origin.  What  it  is,  no  one  outside  the 
place  of  manufacture — which  appears  to  be  unknown 
— can  correctly  declare,  but  by  the  smell  it  would 
seem  to  be  mainly  composed  of  paraffin  oil.  This 
beverage,  called  schnick,  is  the  favorite  spirit  with  the 
miners.  It  is  sold  at  one  penny  for  a  large  glass  and 
one-half  penny  for  a  small  glass,  and  official  statistics 
show  that  a  large  majority  of  the  miners  drink  a  pint 
of  this  stuff  every  day  of  their  lives,  while  it  is  com- 
puted that  there  are  not  less  than  fifty  thousand  who 
drink  a  quart.  In  the  latter  total  are  no  doubt  in- 
cluded many  who  are  not  miners,  but  the  majority  of 
them  are.  In  Belgium  the  drink  question  is  aggra- 
vated by  the  poisonous  nature  of  the  intoxicant  and 
by  the  admitted  inability  of  the  Government  to  devise 
any  means  of  preventing  adulteration.  Lest  the  reader 
should  imagine  that  there  is  some  exaggeration  in  the 
figures  just  given,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  total 
consumption  of  spirits  in  the  country  during  a  year 
exceeds  fifty  quarts  per  head  of  the  population.  This 
being  the  case,  it  will  not  appear  surprising  that  an 
extreme  toper  consumes  a  quart  of  the  spirits  a  day. 
The  consequence  of  this  excess  are  to  be  seen  in  the 
increasing   number  of   lunatics   and   alcohol-maniacs 


174  BELGIUM 

confined  in  the  State  asylums,  and  it  is  observed  that 
of  late  years  the  proportion  of  women  has  been  largely 
increasing,  so  that  it  is  now  not  much  short  of  one 
to  two. 

The  Government  of  Belgium  is,  of  course,  aware 
of  these  facts,  and  a  visit  to  the  Borinage  will  quickly 
convince  the  most  skeptical  of  the  extent  of  the  mis- 
chief already  done,  which  becomes  more  glaring  every 
year.  But  it  has  been  afraid  to  grapple  with  the  dif- 
ficulty by  passing'  for  instance,  a  law  to  oblige  all 
places  where  drink  is  on  sale  to  have  a  license.  The 
absolute  immunity  of  the  drink-shop  from  all  control, 
the  tacit  permission  given  to  every  house  to  be  at  the 
will  of  its  occupant  a  public-house,  and  the  fact  thai 
there  is  in  existence  one  drinking-place  for  every  five 
adults,  explain  the  situation.  The  State  has  refrained 
from  interference  so  long,  through  its  regard  for  the 
liberty  inscribed  in  its  Constitution,  which  includes  its 
citizens'  liberty  to  get  drunk,  that  the  difficulty  has 
assumed  appalling  proportions.  To  interfere  with  a 
practice  in  which  every  one  can  put  forward  some 
evidence  of  a  vested  interest  is  a  perilous  step. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Government  is  confronted 
with  the  prospect  that  if  the  evil  is  allowed  to  con- 
tinue unabated,  the  deterioration  of  the  race  which 
has  become  marked  in  certain  districts  like  the  Borin- 
age, must  bring  about  a  national  decline  that  will  con- 
stitute a  grave  peril  to  the  country.  If  the  Govern- 
ment is  afraid  to  diminish  the  number  of  houses  by 


THE  MINERS  OF  THE  BORINAGE  175 

imposing  licenses,  it  might  well  grapple  with  the 
minor  problem  of  arresting  adulteration,  and  putting 
an  end  to  the  consumption  of  pernicious  substitutes 
for  gin.  Unless  it  does  something  practical  for  the 
mitigation  of  the  evil,  it  will  be  confronted  one  of 
these  days  with  a  peril  that  may  overtax  its  resources, 
and  that  must  damage  its  reputation.  Ignorance,  im- 
morality, and  drunkenness  have  made  the  mining  dis- 
tricts of  Belgium  a  black  spot  in  the  national  life, 
and  the  sooner  an  era  of  reform  is  commenced  the 
better. 

Besides  the  coal  mines  in  Belgium,  there  are  ex- 
tensive quarries  of  limestone,  red  sandstone,  granite, 
and  marble.  They  are  to  be  found  in  the  Ardennes 
(Luxemburg),  the  Condroz  district  (Meuse  Valley), 
the  district  between  Sambre  and  Meuse,  and  parts  of 
Hainaut.  The  Ambleve  Valley  is  remarkable  for  its 
red  sandstone  range.  Slate  quarries  abound  in  the 
southern  parts  of  Luxemburg.  Lime  is  largely  worked 
in  the  valley  of  the  Meuse,  and  the  cement  industry 
is  one  of  the  most  important  in  Belgium. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  quarries  in  Belgium 
is  that  of  St.  Remy,  from  which  a  beautiful  red  mar- 
ble is  excavated.  This  quarry  has  been  worked  at  for 
centuries,  and  is  still  in  full  use.  It  originally  be- 
longed to  the  famous  Abbey  of  St.  Remy,  which  lies 
about  a  mile  north  of  the  town  of  Rochefort,  and  was 
long  the  burial  place  of  the  Counts  of  that  name  who 
were  ruling  princes,  coining  their  own  money.    Little 


176  BELGIUM 

of  the  Abbey  remains  owing  to  the  ravages  of  time 
and  of  the  sans  cuhttes  in  1795,  and  the  Trappists, 
who  had  it  some  years  ago,  contented  themselves  with 
using  it  as  a  farm  and  brewery.  Lately  it  has  passed 
into  the  possession  of  the  Benedictines,  who  are  en- 
gaged in  restoring  the  Abbey  to  something  approach- 
ing its  original  form.  The  quarry  lies  about  half  a 
mile  north  of  the  Abbey,  and  has  been  cut  out  of  the 
side  of  the  rock.  Curiously  enough  it  is  only  at  this 
particular  spot  that  the  marble  is  found.  Many  other 
quarries  have  been  opened  in  the  neighborhood  with 
the  object  of  penetrating  into  the  same  mountain  from 
different  sides,  but  on  finding  no  trace  of  marble 
these  have,  one  after  another,  been  abandoned.  The 
quarry  which,  before  the  French  Revolution,  was  the 
property  of  the  monks,  has  long  been  worked  by  a  pri- 
vate company.  The  stone  is  not  merely  of  a  rich 
color,  but  is  beautifully  grained,  and  has  been  largely 
used  for  the  interior  decoration  of  Belgian  churches. 
In  1908  Belgium  exported  from  her  quarries  of  all 
kinds  stone  of  the  weight  of  1,477,058  tons  of  a  total 
value  of  $8,121,500. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    MiANUFACTURING    CENTERS 

TO  a  very  great  extent,  the  prosperity  of  Belgium 
is  revealed  in  the  commercial  activity  of  Ant- 
werp, and  the  commercial  -classes  of  that  city  form  a 
community  which  more  nearly  resembles  our  own  than 
any  other  in  Belgium.  The  pursuit  of  over-sea  com- 
merce has  broadened  the  view  of  the  merchants  and 
shippers  of  the  great  port  on  the  Scheldt,  and  there 
is  less  of  the  communal,  or  as  we  should  say  parochial, 
spirit  about  them  than  any  other  section  of  the  Bel- 
gian people.  They  are  stationed  at  Belgium's  window 
to  the  outer  world,  and  they  realize  better  than  the 
rest  of  their  countrymen  the  precise  place  filled  by 
their  small  country.  They  know,  for  instance,  that 
the  affairs  of  this  planet  are  not  bound  up  in  the  petty 
questions  that  engross  the  attention  of  professional 
politicians  in  the  Rue  de  la  Lou  Consequently  they 
keep  aloof  from  politics  and  concentrate  their  energies 
on  making  money. 

The  activity  of  Antwerp  is  largely  due  to  the  de- 
velopment of  the  manufacturing  centers  throughout 
the  country.  If  Ghent,  Liege,  and  Seraing  did  not 
exist,  the  exports  of  Belgium,  of  which  we  have 
treated  of  elsewhere  in  this  volume,  could  not  have 

177 


178  BELGIUM 

reached  their  present  imposing  figures.  The  pros- 
perity of  Belgium  is  the  result  of  the  productive 
capacity  of  its  citizens,  and  this  is  shown  in  the  sphere 
of  manufacture  more  than  elsewhere.  Large  por- 
tions of  Belgium  seem  to  be  given  up  as  completely  to 
factories  as  Flanders  is  to  vegetable  fields,  and  the 
Borinage  coal-mines.  The  coal  and  iron  of  Hainaut 
are  the  gifts  of  nature,  but  the  products  of  Ghent, 
Seraing,  Verviers,  and  other  places  too  numerous  to 
name,  are  due  to  the  ingenuity  and  toil  of  man  alone. 
Of  all  Belgian  cities,  Ghent  has  the  best  associa- 
tions for  the  English  people,  and  is  the  home  of  some 
of  the  most  interesting  bits  of  history  familiar  to  all. 
It  was  the  home  of  John  of  Gaunt,  and  this  once 
proud  city  contains  much  of,  if  not  all,  the  pathos  and 
tradegy  of  the  Belgian  epic.  Until  the  pacification  of 
1540,  Ghent  was  a  Power  in  itself.  It  fell  because  it 
did  not  realize  that  its  pre-eminence  among  Flemish 
communes  was  no  proof  that  it  could  beard  the  ruler 
of  a  great  empire  with  impunity.  It  retained  the  in- 
solence of  power  long  after  it  had  lost  the  substance, 
and  its  fall  was  both  ignominious  and  irretrievable. 
In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  Ghent 
suffered  in  special  degree  from  the  blight  which  fell 
generally  upon  Flanders.  The  gfass  grew  in  its 
streets,  the  canals  were  unused,  and  the  population 
steadily  declined.  From  being  the  rival  of  potentates 
and  States,  Ghent  sank  into  the  position  of  a  second 
rank  provincial  town.    The  city  that  had  once  boastec| 


THE  MANUFACTURING  CENTERS         179 

of  its  quarter  of  a  million  inhabitants,  and  of  how  with 
its  dependent  towns  it  could  put  80,000  combatants 
in  the  field,  contained  less  than  40,000  citizens  when 
the  French  occupied  the  country  in  the  Revolutionary 
period.  At  that  time  the  principal  occupation  of  the 
citizens  of  Ghent,  and  the  main  source  of  such  pros- 
perity as  they  possessed,  was  horticulture,  and  Ghent, 
which  had  been  famous  for  its  gloves,  became  better 
known  for  its  flowers.  It  has  not  lost  this  reputation 
today,  and  the  flowers  from  the  glass-houses  of  Ghent 
are  in  much  demand,  and  sold  all  over  the  country; 
but  at  the  same  time  it  has  discovered  new  and  more 
profitable  industries  in  the  last  century. 

The  first  and  main  cause  of  the  return  of  pros- 
perity to  Belgium  was,  it  must  be  admitted,  the  estab- 
lishment of  peace.  It  ceased  in  1795  to  be  the  cock- 
pit of  Europe,  and  even  during  the  Waterloo  cam- 
paign a  hostile  force  was  on  Beligan  soil  for  no  more 
than  five  days,  and  Charleroi,  then  a  small  place  of  no 
importance,  was  the  only  one  of  its  towns  to  undergo 
military  occupation.  The  cessation  of  strife,  waged 
by  foreign  armies  on  its  territory,  was  the  first  and 
main  cause  of  the  revival  of  Belgian  industry.  Men 
were  able  to  turn  their  attention  to  more  remunerative 
work  than  the  cultivation  of  the  fields  with  some  rea- 
sonable prospect  of  enjoying  the  fruits  of  her  own 
labor.  While  a  larger  area  was  brought  under  cul- 
tivation, commerce,  however  timidly,  began  to  appeal 


180  BELGIUM 

to  the  townspeople.    The  population,  long  stationary, 
commenced  to  show  signs  of  expansion. 

Ghent  was  the  first  place  to  feel  the  new  influence. 
Admirably  situated  for  purposes  of  trade  by  means 
of  its  water  communication  in  many  different  direc- 
tions, Ghent  was  able,  in  the  days  before  the  railways, 
to  despatch  its  wares  by  the  cheap  and  sufficiently 
expeditious   transport   provided   by   canal    and   river 
barges.     It  thus  found  convenient  markets  in  Brus- 
sels, which  always  enjoyed  a  certain  prosperity  as  the 
residence  of  a  Court,   and  in  Antwerp,   which  was 
largely  dependent  on  the  country  lying  at  its  back. 
In  the  old  days  the  weavers  and  fullers  of  Ghent  had 
made  its  prosperity.     It  was,  therefore,  natural  that 
when  the  revival  of  the  place  commenced,  its  citizens 
should  turn  in  the  same  channel.     The  first  factory 
set  up  in  modern  Ghent  was  one  for  cloth,  during 
the  French  occupation,  and  it  was  busily  employed  in 
turning  out  a  large  part  of  the  material  used  in  pro- 
viding Napoleon's  soldiers  with  their  uniform.     Dur- 
ing the   Dutch  rule,   which   extended   from   1815   to 
1830,    the    manufacture  of  cotton  goods  was  intro- 
duced; but  this  did  not  become  at  all  general  until 
after  the  year  1839,  when  the  independence  of  Bel- 
gium was  rendered  more  assured  by  the  recognition 
of  the  fact  by  Holland.    After  that  event,  cotton  and 
woolen   manufactures   became    a    staple   industry    in 
Ghent,  and  the  output  increased  every  year,  so  that  it 


THE  MANUFACTURING  CENTERS  181 

seemed  no  undue  exaggeration  to  speak  of  it  as  the 
Belgian  Manchester.  The  prosperity  of  Ghent  re- 
ceived a  rude  interruption  in  1861  through  the  out- 
break of  the  American  Civil  War,  which  cut  off  the 
supply  of  cotton,  and  produced  the  greatest  distress. 
The  suffering  was  increased  by  a  serious  outbreak  of 
cholera,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  Ghent  had 
only  risen  to  fall  again.  After  the  conclusion  of  the 
struggle  in  the  United  States,  the  enterprise  that  had 
been  interrupted  reasserted  itself,  and  the  cholera  hav- 
ing led  to  many  sanitary  improvements,  the  city  took 
on  a  new  lease  of  life.  The  lace  and  embroidery  in- 
dustry, which  had  been  carried  on  in  a  modest  way  in 
the  houses  of  the  workpeople  themselves,  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  factories,  and  was  developed  with  all  the 
appliances  of  capital  and  science.  An  entirely  new 
business  was  introduced  by  the  opening  of  works  for 
the  construction  of  engines  and  agricultural  imple- 
ments. There  is,  therefore,  no  doubt  as  to  the  activity 
of  the  business  life  of  the  city.  No  proof,  indeed, 
can  be  clearer  than  that  its  population  now  exceeds 
160,000.  Ghent,  besides  being  an  active  commercial 
and  manufacturing  center,  is  also  a  fine  city,  and  a 
pleasant  place  of  residence.  It  contains  some  very 
interesting  monuments  of  its  medieval  grandeur,  and 
although  the  bell  of  mighty  Roland  is  heard  no  more 
in  the  land,  there  is  an  effective  carillon  of  forty-four 
bells  in  the  belfry,  from  which  it  used  to  give  forth 
"victory"  or  the  "alarm  for  fire." 


182  BELGIUM 

In  striking  contrast  to  Ghent  is  Seraing,  where 
the  greatest  foundry  and  engine  works  of  Belgium 
were  established  by  an  Englishman  two  years  after 
Waterloo.  This  was  Cockerill,  who  fixed  upon 
Seraing  as  the  best  spot  for  his  enterprise,  in  which 
he  had  the  cordial  support  of  King  William  I  of  the 
Netherlands,  who  subscribed  half  the  capital.  The 
site  of  the  works,  which  now  cover  260  acres,  and 
employ  15,000  workpeople,  was  happily  chosen  at  an 
old  chateau  with  extensive  grounds,  which  had  once 
been  the  summer  residence  of  the  Prince-Bishops  of 
Liege.  The  chateau  is  still  used  as  the  house  of  the 
resident  director,  and  as  a  library.  Formerly  the  spot 
was  one  of  the  most  picturesque  in  the  environs  of 
Liege.  Now  both  banks  of  the  river  are  lined  with 
furnaces  and  factories,  for  Jemeppe,  Ougree,  Seles- 
sin,  and  Tilleur  are  imitators  of  Seraing.  The  valley 
is  also  carboniferous,  and  there  are  numerous  coal- 
mines. The  Liege  collieries  rank  next  to  those  of 
Hainaut  in  importance,  and  some  authorities  think  that 
they  will  be  productive  for  a  longer  period. 

Seraing  is  situated  five  miles  above  Liege  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Meuse.  There  is  communication 
between  the  two  places  by  river  steamer,  tramway, 
and  railway.  By  the  last  census  its  population  ex- 
ceeded 38,000,  and  it  may  be  assumed  that  every  one 
resident  in  the  town  is  connected  with  or  dependent 
on  the  Cockerill  establishment.  In  1831,  after  the 
separation  of  the  two  countries,  Cockerill  repaid  King 


THE  MANUFACTURING  CENTERS  183 

William  his  share  of  the  capital,  and  remained  sole 
proprietor  until  his  death  in  1840.  The  concern  was 
then  turned  into  a  company,  with  the  modest  capital 
of  $2,500,000.  In  1871  the  capital  was  increased,  and 
the  descendants  of  Cockerill  having  died  out  or  re- 
tired, the  business  became  exclusively  Belgian.  The 
record  of  the  Seraing  works  is  a  very  remarkable  one, 
especially  in  the  construction  of  railway  and  other 
steam  engines,  of  which  close  on  60,000  have  been 
turned  out  since  the  commencement  of  that  branch 
in  1835.  With  its  present  staff  it  can  construct  an- 
nually 150  locomotives,  2,000  engines,  steam  and  hand, 
and  300,000  quintals  (or  15,000  tons)  of  font  for 
bridges,  etc.  The  iron  casements  for  the  new  forts 
at  Namur  and  Liege  itself  were  cast  in  the  Seraing 
foundries.  Seraing  may  be  compared  in  some  respects 
to  the  Armstrong  works  at  Elswick  and  the  Krupp 
works  at  Essen,  and  it  is  well  to  remind  the  Belgians 
that  their  country  owes  this  now  national  undertaking 
to  the  capital  and  enterprise  of  an  Englishman. 

Seraing  is,  in  a  certain  sense,  only  an  annex  of  the 
important  city  of  Liege  close  by.  In  many  respects 
Liege  is  the  most  remarkable  place  in  Belgium,  re- 
markable for  its  magnificent  position,  for  the  activity 
of  its  citizens,  and  for  its  history,  which  has,  in  a 
certain  sense,  been  detached  from  that  of  the  rest  of 
the  country.  Liege  is  the  natural  and  typical  capital 
of  the  Walloon  country,  just  as  Ghent  is  of  the  Flem- 
ish.   Both  cities  are  now  at  the  height  of  their  pros- 


184  BELGIUM 

perity,  and  contain  about  the  same  population.  If, 
however,  Seraing  and  Chenee  were  included  as  sub- 
urbs of  Liege,  which  they  are  in  reality,  Liege  would 
have  a  very  marked  superiority  over  Ghent.  There 
is  probably  more  wealth  in  Liege  than  in  Ghent,  but 
there  is  also  more  misery.  The  poor  quarters  of  the 
town  on  both  banks  of  the  river  are  very  repulsive, 
and  the  old  delapidated  lofty  houses,  built  up  against 
the  side  of  the  mountain  on  which  stands  the  citadel, 
are  not  worse  than  the  new  tenements  across  the  river 
at  Bressoux.  The  staple  industry  at  Liege,  upon  which 
its  prosperity  depends,  is  the  manufacturing  of  arms, 
and  this  fact  has  led  to  its  being  called  the  Birming- 
ham of  Belgium.  There  is  one  distinctive  practice 
which  brings  out  the  marked  difference  between  the 
two  countries  and  peoples.  The  Birmingham  gun- 
smiths work  in  shops  where  weapons  are  turned  out 
by  the  thousands.  In  Liege  the  individual  works  in 
his  own  abode,  and  takes  each  single  weapon  on  com- 
pletion to  the  gunshop  for  sale.  It  is  said  there  are 
forty  thousand  working  gunsmiths  in  Liege  and  its 
suburbs.  It  would  appear  a  risky  means  of  liveli- 
hood, for  each  piece  is  carefully  inspected  and  tested 
before  acceptance  at  the  warehouses,  and  the  least 
defect  is  said  to  cause  summary  rejection.  Opinions 
differ  as  to  the  quality  of  Liege  firearms,  but  there 
is  one  point  in  which  they  beat  all  competitors,  and 
that  is  in  lowness  of  price.  An  enormous  business 
is  done  in  single-barreled  guns,  that  are  sold  at  $375 


THE  MANUFACTURING  CENTERS  185 

apiece.  As  this  class  of  gun  has  a  rapid  and  sure 
sale,  the  preparation  of  first-class  weapons  has  grown 
less  attractive  for  the  workman,  who  thinks  only  of 
earning  his  living  in  the  easiest  and  surest  way,  and 
who  seems  to  be  quite  content  when  he  makes  $5  a 
week.  With  a  view  of  arresting  this  tendency,  and 
preventing  the  loss  of  an  important  branch  of  the 
trade,  several  factories  for  the  manufacture  of  rifles 
have  been  opened  of  late  years,  and  there  is  also  a 
cannon  foundry.  The  last  named  and  one  of  the 
rifle  factories  belong  to  the  State.  It  may  be  ndded 
that  the  former  is  now  busily  occupied  in  casting  the 
new  guns  for  the  Belgian  artillery.  At  all  times  the 
citizens  of  Liege  have  been  noted  for  their  independ- 
ent, and  it  might  even  be  said  quarrelsome,  spirit.  The 
fact  that  each  man  is  more  or  less  his  own  master  has 
greatly  contributed  to  keep  alive  the  sentiment  of  in- 
dependence, and  the  wonting  classes  are  organized 
by  leagues,  societies,  and  clubs.  The  Socialists  are 
very  powerful,  but  there  is  also  a  genuine  Catholic 
party  among  them. 

Among  other  manufacturing  centers  less  widely 
known  than  Ghent  and  Liege,  which  are  springing 
into  importance,  are  Gembloux,  Ath,  Renaix,  and 
Diest.  At  Gembloux  the  state  railways  have  estab- 
lished their  engine  and  carriage  works,  which  employ 
several  thousand  hands.  There  is  also  a  factory  for 
excellent  cutlery  at  this  place.  Ath,  on  the  Dender,  is 
the  center  of  the  important  lime  manufacture,   and 


186  BELGIUM 

being  in  direct  water  communication  by  river  and 
canal  with  most  parts  of  Belgium,  it  is  able  to  deliver 
this  article  by  the  most  economical  mode  of  transport. 
Renaix  has  developed  an  important  cloth  industry, 
and  Diest  is  the  center  of  the  brewing  enterprise  of 
the  country,  and  might  be  compared  to  Burton-on- 
Trent.  Malines  is  still  famous  for  its  lace,  although 
Grammont,  interesting  as  the  first  of  the  communes 
to  receive  a  charter,  is  running  it  hard  in  the  matter 
of  "point."  Tournai  produces  most  of  the  carpets  to 
which  Brussels  gives  its  name.  Artistic  carpets  are  also 
produced  at  Termonde,  where  there  are  also  extensive 
oil  works.  Verviers,  a  large  town  east  of  Liege, 
flourishes  on  a  considerable  manufacture  of  woolen 
goods  and  of  glass.  Within  the  last  few  years  the 
competition  of  German  works  at  Eupen  has  been  so 
keen  that  several  of  the  Belgian  glass  companies  have 
suspended  operations.  A  new  industry  is  being  devel- 
oped in  cement  and  a  composition  that  serves  as  an 
excellent  pavement.  In  no  manufacturing  district  of 
Belgium  are  the  vicissitudes  of  trade  through  exter- 
nal competition  greater  or  more  sudden  than  at 
Verviers. 

The  condition  of  the  artisan  classes  in  Belgium 
is  probably  better  than  in  France,  although  it  falls  a 
long  way  below  that  of  English  workmen,  especially 
in  respect  of  hours  of  labor.  These  are  unquestion- 
ably long  to  excess,  and  are  really  fixed  by  the  will  of 
the  employer.    The  language  of  the  law  on  the  em- 


THE  MANUFACTURING  CENTERS  187 

ployment  of  children  is  very  instructive.  No  child 
can  be  employed  in  a  factory  or  a  warehouse  until  he 
is  twelve,  which  means  that  all  children  of  the  work- 
ing classes  begin  their  life  of  toil  at  twelve.  This  ex- 
plains the  stunted  appearance  of  the  population  of 
the  larger  towns  and  manufacturing  districts.  The 
law  says,  in  the  second  place,  that  no  child  under  six- 
teen is  to  be  kept  at  work  for  more  than  twelve  hours 
a  day.  If  the  young  can  work  this  length  of  time, 
it  will  be  understood  that  an  adult  is  assumed  to  be 
capable  of  doing  more.  At  the  same  time,  the  long 
hours  do  not  hang  as  so  great  a  burden  on  the  Bel- 
gian working  man  as  they  would  on  Americans.  The 
race  has  always  been  accustomed  to  early  hours,  and 
as  there  are  no  great  distractions  except  fete  days, 
the  Belgian  takes  his  pleasure  in  his  work. 

From  a  careful  estimate  made  by  a  Belgian  statis- 
tician the  average  earnings  of  the  Belgian  artisan  are 
$165  a  year.  This  average  includes  child-labor,  which 
partially  explains  the  lowness  of  the  figure.  Personal 
inquiry  showed  me  that  in  Liege  and  Ghent  the  work- 
men expect  to  earn  a  minimum  eighty  cents  a  day, 
or  about  $5  a  week.  They  seem  to  be  perfectly  con- 
tented if  they  can  earn  a  dollar  a  day,  but  besides  the 
earnings  of  the  man  of  the  house  are  those  of  his 
wife  and  children.  And  they  get  along  fairly  well  on 
this  income.  The  Belgians  are  not  great  meat-eaters, 
and  the  Belgian  wife  is  usually  an  economic  and  good 
cook.    A  nourishing  soup  forms  the  basis  of  the  food 


188  BELGIUM 

in  a  Belgian  home,  and  the  bread  they  use  is  of  the 
whole  grain  and  much  more  substantial  than  our 
bread. 

The  daily  life  of  the  factory  operative  is  not  as 
easily  described  as  that  of  the  miner,  who  lives  under 
special  conditions  which  differentiate  him  from  the 
regular  community,  and  which  are  treated  of  else- 
where in  this  volume.  The  mill-hand,  the  potter,  or 
the  lace-maker  will  pursue  the  mode  of  living  agree- 
able to  himself,  in  complete  obliviousness  of  what 
his  fellow  workers  may  do,  except  in  regard  to  points 
of  common  trade  interest.  The  bond  that  links  him  to 
his  class  is  that  not  of  his  work,  but  of  his  commune, 
which  is  the  chief  source  of  Belgian  unity.  Hence, 
any  attempt  to  give  an  account  of  the  daily  life  of  all 
factory  operatives,  as  something  fashioned  in  the  same 
pattern,  would  be  incorrect  and  misleading.  At  the 
same  time,  there  are  some  points  about  the  Belgian 
artisan  which  may  seem  of  interest.  His  condition  of 
life  and  general  well-being  furnish  no  inexact  index 
to  the  national  welfare,  and,  speaking  relatively,  they 
may  be  pronounced  quite  as  high  as  in  any  country 
of  Europe.  The  Belgian  operative  has  command  of 
all  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  he  has  also  a  surplus 
left  for  some  of  its  luxuries,  or,  at  least,  some  of  its 
relaxations.  His  hours  of  labor  may  be  many,  but 
they  are  lightened  by  some  hours  of  amusement,  and 
a  not  infrequent  holiday.  If  the  cafe  does  not  suffice 
for  his  leisure  hours,   there  is  always  the   cercle — 


THE  MANUFACTURING  CENTERS  189 

Catholic,  or  Liberal,  or  Socialist;  and  the  cercle  will 
have  its  band  of  music,  its  dances,  and  other  annual 
or  more  frequent  celebrations.  The  life  of  the  opera- 
tive is  consequently  by  no  means  dull  or  unvaried. 
It  is  no  dreary  round  of  labor;  there  is  ample  time 
for  pleasure,  and  the  Belgian  character,  whether  Wal- 
loon or  Flemish,  is  not  prone  to  take  its  pleasures 
sadly. 

There  is  another  feature  in  the  life  of  the  Belgian 
workingman  that  is  interesting.  He  has  his  political 
associations  and  clubs.  The  Parti  Ouvrier  is  organ- 
ized throughout  the  kingdom  for  political  agitation 
and  the  attainment  of  universal  suffrage.  But,  in  ad- 
dition, certain  co-operative  societies  have  been  formed 
for  retailing  to  their  members  practically  all  the  arti- 
cles of  which  they  have  any  need.  These  exist  in  all 
the  large  towns,  but  the  two  largest  are  those  known 
as  the  Maison  du  Peuple  in  Brussels  and  the  Vooruit 
in  Ghent.  At  these  stores  everything  is  sold  at  the 
cost  of  production,  plus  five  per  cent  for  the  adminis- 
tration, from  a  loaf  of  bread  to  the  furniture  of  a 
house.  An  excellent  loaf  of  bread  weighing  nearly 
two  pounds  and  a  half  is  sold  for  twopence,  and  at 
the  Maison  du  Peuple  in  Brussels  over  160,000  such 
loaves  are  sold  each  week.  As  there  are  16,000  mem- 
bers, the  average  consumption  is  ten  loaves  a  week. 
Of  late  years,  these  societies  have  taken  an  active  part 
in  the  struggle  with  drunkenness  by  excluding  spirits 
and  beer  from  their  lists,  and  in  the  refreshment  room 


190  BELGIUM 

attached  to  their  stores  coffee  and  lemonade  are  the 
only  beverages  sold.  Although  I  have  only  men- 
tioned two  of  these  societies,  there  are  in  Belgium 
about  four  hundred  of  the  same  nature. 

There  are  also  saving-  and  sick-fund  branches  at- 
tached to  most  of  these  societies.  The  basis  on  which 
they  are  formed  is  a  monthly  payment  of  sixty  cents 
to  the  former  and  twenty  cents  to  the  latter.  For 
these  subscriptions  a  member  is  guaranteed  medical 
attendance  and  twenty  cents  a  day  during  illness,  and 
his  annual  savings  are  practically  doubled  by  the  ad- 
ditions made  to  them  under  the  law  by  the  State  and 
also  by  the  provinces,  while  there  is  a  further  volun- 
tary grant  by  the  society  itself.  As  the  most  staid 
Belgian  workman  deems  that  he  has  the  moral  right 
to  spend  twenty  cents  a  day  on  his  drink,  it  does  not 
seem  to  be  asking  him  to  practice  much  self-denial  to 
put  by  twenty  cents  a  week  for  a  rainy  day.  It  is  right 
to  mention  that  there  are  no  grounds  for  supposing 
that  he  grumbles  at  having  to  do  so.  There  is  a  new 
State  Pension  Bill  that  is  calculated  to  encourage 
thrift.  It  came  into  effect  in  1900,  and  by  it  the  Gov- 
ernment undertakes  to  pay  every  working  man  in  need 
after  he  is  sixty-five  an  annual  pension  of  $13  a  year. 

Taking  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  position  of 
the  working  classes  in  Belgium,  it  will  compare  not 
unfavorably  with  that  of  those  in  any  other  country. 
In  one  particular  only  is  there  pressing  need  of  ame- 
lioration, and,  as  we  have  seen,  that  is  in  the  length  of 


THE  MANUFACTURING  CENTERS  191 

hours  of  labor.  It  is  probable  that  a  reform  would 
already  have  taken  place  in  this  matter  but  for  the 
fact  that  political  questions  have  become  mixed  up 
with  social  problems.  The  agitation  is  not  one  for 
eight  or  nine  hours  a  day  as  the  regular  spell  for  the 
working  classes  in  factories,  but  it  is  one  for  universal 
suffrage,  the  abolition  of  the  plural  vote,  and  the  fet- 
tering of  capital  by  the  enforcement  of  Socialist  the- 
ories of  distribution  and  joint  participation.  It  is  un- 
fortunate that  these  political  matters  have  been  con- 
nected with  labor  questions,  and  that  natural  conces- 
sions have  been  deferred  by  the  fear  of  what  those 
to  whom  they  were  made  might  do  afterwards. 


CHAPTER  XV 

COUNTRY   LIFE   IN    BELGIUM 

AS  considerably  more  than  half  the  population  of 
Belgium  resides  outside  the  towns,  the  condi- 
tions of  country  life  form  quite  as  important  a  part 
of  the  nation's  existence  as  those  of  the  bourgeois 
classes.  There  are  parts  of  the  little  kingdom,  such 
as  Luxemburg  and  Campine,  where  the  population  is 
sufficiently  sparse  to  leave  something  like  the  accepted 
conditions  of  genuine  country  life;  but  in  Flanders, 
Hainaut,  and  Brabant,  the  population  is  so  dense  that 
the  farms  and  cottages  occupy  practically  every  avail- 
able spot  that  can  be  utilized  for  a  building  without 
diminishing  the  area  of  the  cultivable  ground.  Leav- 
ing aside  the  mining  districts,  the  western  provinces 
of  Belgium  present  in  the  main  the  appearance  of 
vast  market-gardens  without  a  hedge  or  a  wall.  The 
boundaries  are  marked  by  nothing  more  than  an 
insignificant  trench.  The  cultivation  of  wheat  and 
cereals  generally  is  being  increased;  but  this  is  due 
more  to  the  absorption  of  new  land  reclaimed  from 
forest  or  heath  than  to  the  abandonment  of  vege- 
tables. In  Flanders,  which  was  formerly  given  up 
exclusively  to  the  cultivation  of  roots,  however,  it  is 
not  uncommon  to  see  nowadays  part  of  a  half-acre 

192 


COUNTRY  LIFE  IN  BELGIUM  193 

plot  assigned  to  a  wheat  crop,  and  the  rest  to  cab- 
bages. 

If  one  wished  to  study  the  agricultural  system  of 
Belgium,  and  to  see  what  has  been  accomplished 
there,  a  visit  should  certainly  be  paid  to  the  district 
called  Pays  de  Waes.  This  district  lies  west  of  the 
Scheldt,  and  southeast  of  Antwerp,  and  extends  al- 
most to  Ghent.  Its  chief  town  is  St.  Nicholas,  and 
Lokeren,  another  town  of  the  Waes  country,  is 
scarcely  less  important.  In  1839,  the  whole  of  the 
district  was  a  wild,  uncultivated  tract.  Now  it  is  an 
unbroken  expanse  of  gardens  and  fields,  sustaining  a 
resident  population  of  five  hundred  persons  to  the 
square  mile.  There  has  been  no  such  transformation 
scene  in  any  part  of  Europe,  and  it  would  be  a  good 
experiment  to  tempt  some  Belgian  agriculturists  to 
see  what  they  could  do  in  some  other  countries — 
Ireland,  for  instance,  or  the  abandoned  land  in  our 
New  England  States. 

Throughout  the  two  Flanders,  which  produce  more 
than  half  the  total  crops  of  the  country,  there  are  no 
large  landed  proprietors,  and  the  soil  is  parcelled  out 
in  small  lots  among  the  peasants  themselves.  The 
farmer  class  in  these  provinces  exists  only  to  this  ex- 
tent, that  where  the  commune  owns  the  lands  it  has 
chosen  to  sublet  them  to  a  farmer  with  the  means  to 
work  several  hundred  acres  instead  of  dividing  the 
land  into  allotments.  But  in  Flanders  the  farmer  is 
the  exception,  and  the  small  proprietor  of  anything 


194  BELGIUM 

up  to  five  acres  is  the  rule,  while  in  Hainaut  and  Bra- 
bant it  is  different.  There  the  farmer  class  is  in  the 
ascendant.  A  historical  cause  lies  at  the  root  of  this 
difference.  Up  to  the  French  occupation  in  1795,  the 
soil  of  Belgium  was  the  property  in  the  main  of  the 
representatives  of  the  aristocracy,  civic  as  well  as 
feudal,  and  of  the  Church.  The  religious  orders  were 
the  chief  proprietors,  owning  more  than  double  the 
cultivated  land  possessed  by  the  nobles.  This  was 
explained  by  the  fact  that  the  Church  owned  lands 
to  make  them  revenue  producing,  and  possessed  the 
capital  to  do  so.  The  nobles  were  not  rich  in  capital, 
and  a  very  large  proportion  of  their  territorial  pos- 
sessions consisted  of  forest  and  unreclaimed  land.  As 
they  kept  these  possessions  for  the  chase,  they  did  not 
even  think  of  developing  them.  When  the  French 
Republic  annexed  Belgium,  all  the  lands  possessed 
by  churchmen  and  nobles  were  at  once  made  forfeit, 
and  the  actual  occupiers  and  tillers  of  the  soil  came 
into  possession.  At  that  time  Flanders  was  just  as 
much  an  agricultural  country  as  it  is  today.  But  in 
the  other  provinces  the  same  conditions  did  not  pre- 
vail. Only  a  small  portion  of  the  soil  was  under  cul- 
tivation, the  population  was  scanty,  and  with  local 
exceptions  there  were  no  peasants  eager  to  take  over 
estates  that  had  fallen  vacant  and  that  were  at  their 
disposal.  Moreover,  the  land  had  to  be  cleared  and 
won  over  for  cultivation,  which  required  capital.  For 
these  reasons  a  race  of  peasant  proprietors  was  not 


COUNTRY  LIFE  IN  BELGIUM  195 

created  in  Brabant  and  Namur  as  had  been  done  in 
accordance  with  easily  discoverable  natural  laws  in 
Flanders.  When  the  heat  of  the  republicans  were 
cooled  down,  there  is  no  doubt  that  many  of  the  for- 
mer proprietors  recovered  their  possessions  partly  by 
occupying  what  no  one  else  claimed,  and  partly  by  re- 
purchase from  the  State  or  the  commune  on  nominal 
terms.  This  tendency  became  more  marked  under  the 
Emperor  Napoleon,  and  especially  after  he  made  his 
peace  with  the  Pope.  After  his  overthrow  there  was 
a  general  recovery  of  territorial  possessions  by  the 
aristocracy,  subject  to  the  recognition  of  the  rights  of 
occupation  that  had  accumulated  in  twenty  years. 
But  in  Flanders  nothing  of  the  sort  took  place.  There 
the  new  rights  entirely  displaced  the  old  title-deeds. 
The  class  of  great  landed  proprietors  in  Belgium 
is  exceedingly  small,  and  there  are  many  of  the  old 
noblesse  without  any  land  at  all.  Those  who  are  more 
fortunate  possess,  as  a  general  rule,  not  more  than  a 
thousand  acres  round  their  country  residence,  and  the 
only  great  estates  are  to  be  found  in  the  Ardennes 
and  Campine,  where  land  possessed  but  little  value 
until  a  quite  recent  period.  The  history  of  the  estate 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  as  Duke  of  Waterloo,  in 
Belgium  furnishes  an  instance  of  what  took  place 
when  the  representatives  of  the  ancient  owners  recov- 
ered the  non-productive  portions  of  their  estates.  The 
Duke  was  granted,  as  a  reward  for  his  great  victory 
in  Belgium,  a  portion  of  the  old  forest  of  Soignies. 


196  BELGIUM 

It  was  about  five  thousand  acres  in  extent;  but  the 
only  income  the  great  Duke  ever  derived  from  it  was 
from  the  timber,  which  must  have  been  quite  insig- 
nificant. Upon  his  death  his  son  and  successor  was 
confirmed  in  the  possession  of  this  estate,  after  some 
persons  had  represented  that  it  was  only  granted  for 
the  life  of  the  first  duke.  He  then  expressed  the 
opinion  to  some  Belgian  officials  that  the  estate  about 
which  so  much  stir  was  being  made  was  really  value- 
less, whereupon  Baron  Lambermont  advised  him  to 
place  it  in  the  hands  of  the  regisseur  or  manager  of 
the  Due  d'Arenberg,  who  had  vastly  improved  the 
estates  of  that  nobleman  at  Enghien  and  elsewhere. 
The  advice  was  followed,  and  in  a  few  years  the  tim- 
ber was  all  cut  down  and  sold,  and  on  his  part  of  the 
old  forest  a  number  of  farms  were  created.  The 
estate  then  for  the  first  time  brought  in  an  income; 
but  the  story  is  merely  told  here  to  illustrate  the 
process  which  went  on  generally  in  Belgium  outside 
of  Flanders  after  Waterloo,  and  in  a  still  more  marked 
degree  after  the  establishment  of  an  independent 
kingdom. 

The  conditions  of  life  among  the  agricultural 
classes  of  Flanders  would  be  considered  intolerably 
hard  by  the  agricultural  laborer  in  England  or  Amer- 
ica, and  even  the  sense  of  possessing  the  land  on 
which  they  toil  would  not  atone  for  them.  The  Flem- 
ish peasant,  or  proprietor,  labors  all  day,  and  his  day 
is  the  long  one  from  sunrise  until  long  after  sunset. 


COUNTRY  LIFE  IN  BELGIUM  197 

Any  one  who  has  lived  in  the  Belgian  provinces  has 
seen  gray  figures  moving  along  the  roads  or  across  the 
fields,  while  gleams  of  light  alone  showed  the  dawn 
of  the  coming  day.  They  wish  to  be  at  their  work, 
discontinued  late  the  night  before,  as  soon  as  there  is 
sufficient  light  to  enable  them  to  resume  it.  They  are 
working  for  themselves,  and  very  likely  they  would 
grumble  if  they  were  asked  to  do  it  for  a  master. 
But  it  is  not  only  the  men,  but  also  the  women  who 
work  thus.  There  are,  of  course,  household  duties 
and  work  at  home  to  be  performed;  but  these  do  not 
prevent  the  women  and  girls  from  toiling  in  the  fields 
as  well.  Market-gardening  carried  on  in  the  fashion 
of  the  Continent,  where  nothing  is  wasted,  cannot  be 
considered  an  altogether  pleasant  or  even  healthy  oc- 
cupation. It  is  certainly  not  calculated  to  elevate  those 
who  take  part  in  it  in  intelligence,  and  as  a  matter  of 
fact  the  vast  body  of  Flemish  laborers  in  the  fields 
are  sunk  in  a  state  of  extraordinary  ignorance  for  the 
twentieth  century.  Their  education  is  practically  noth- 
ing at  all,  but  they  are  sound  Catholics,  and  it  is  not 
thought  to  be  to  the  interest  of  the  Church,  or  the 
party  that  claims  that  designation,  that  they  should 
progress  in  worldly  knowledge. 

To  judge  the  people  of  Flanders  plains  by  a  cur- 
sory inspection,  the  conclusion  come  to  would  prob- 
ably be  that  they  must  be  exceedingly  miserable  and 
unhappy,  and  it  requires  a  far  more  intimate  knowl- 
edge than  most  foreigners  are  ever  likely  to  take  the 


198  BELGIUM 

trouble  to  acquire  to  discover  that  such  is  not  really 
the  case.  Their  workaday  clothes  are  not  of  a  char- 
acter to  impress  the  observer  with  a  perception  of  any- 
thing in  their  favor.  They  are  certainly  not  pictur- 
esque, and  they  are  generally  very  dirty.  They  all 
wear  the  wooden  sabot,  yellow  in  color  and  clumsy 
in  form.  Their  stockings  are  always  coarse  worsted 
and  grey.  Their  short  trousers  are  always  tied  with 
a  ribbon  above  the  calf,  and  they  wear  a  linen  smock. 
The  usual  headgear  of  the  men  is  a  cap  with  a  peak, 
and  the  women  have  linen  bonnets  with  a  kind  of 
hood  over  the  forehead.  If  their  dress  is  plain,  their 
living  is  still  plainer.  Their  breakfast  consists  of  no 
more  than  coffee  and  rye  bread,  their  midday  meal  of 
bread  and  butter,  or  grease — tartine — with  which  they 
sometimes  have  cheese  or  a  little  cold  bacon,  and  their 
supper  of  soup  and  bread.  On  Sundays  and  fete 
days  they  have  hot  bacon,  and  occasionally  rabbits  or 
fish.  Fresh  meat  never  comes  their  way,  and  is  prac- 
tically unknown.  On  the  other  hand,  they  eat  great 
quantities  of  vegetables,  cooked  and  uncooked,  and 
dandelion  salads  are  the  luxury  of  the  Belgian  peas- 
ant. It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  get  at  an  idea  of  the 
results  of  their  toil;  but  the  average  amount  of  the 
produce  of  the  land  has  been  reckoned  at  $100  the 
half  acre.  On  this  sum  a  Flemish  family  will  con- 
trive to  live,  having  no  rent  to  pay,  and  supplementing 
the  produce  of  the  field  with  a  pig  and  poultry.    There 


COUNTRY  LIFE  IN  BELGIUM  199 

are  650,000  men  and  boys  employed  in  agriculture 
alone. 

In  order  to  correct  the  depressing  effect  of  the 
spectacle  of  these  peasant  proprietors  in  their  week- 
day costumes,  when  they  strike  the  observer  as  mere 
drudges  bound  in  misery,  it  is  as  well  to  take  a  glance 
at  the  same  people  on  Sundays  going  to  or  returning 
from  mass.  The  whole  population  goes ;  there  are  no 
non-attendants  here,  except  from  illness  and  those 
who  are  bedridden.  And  what  do  we  see?  All  the 
men  wearing  respectable  black  suits  and  boots;  the 
women  are  well  dressed  and  carry  themselves  well, 
and  there  are  bright-colored  parasols  to  protect  from 
the  sun  the  girls  and  young  women  who  have  been 
toiling  in  the  fields  all  the  week  with  no  protection 
save  a  linen  hood.  It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  these 
are  the  same  people;  but  it  is  quite  clear  from  their 
animated  conversation  and  laughter  that  they  are  far 
from  unhappy  or  dissatisfied  with  their  lot. 

In  the  Walloon  country  the  conditions  of  agricul- 
tural life  are  quite  different.  The  country  population 
is  scanty,  and  the  cultivation  of  the  land  is  in  the 
hands  of  farmers  who  have  rented  it  from  the  landed 
owners  or  from  the  communes.  The  inhabitants  show 
a  tendency  to  gather  in  little  towns,  and  not  to  spread 
over  the  country  in  detached  cottages  close  to  their 
work,  but  separated  from  their  fellow-beings.  When 
the  outskirts  of  a  townlet  or  large  village  are  passed, 
not  a  house  will  be  met  with  along  the  road  until  the 


200  BELGIUM 

next  village  is  reached.  Now  in  Flanders  the  cot- 
tages are  scattered  all  over  the  country,  and  dot  the 
chaussee,  or  high-road.  There  is  another  marked 
difference.  In  Flanders  the  country  house  with  any 
extent  of  garden  or  park-land  attached,  is  quite  a 
rarity.  There  are  still  a  few  old  manor  houses  left, 
but  they  have  only  a  small  piece  of  ground  round 
them.  But  in  Liege,  Limburg,  and  Luxemburg  it  is 
different.  There  are  still  a  certain  number  of  old 
chateau  and  chalets  left,  and  rich  manufacturers  from 
the  cities  have  built  a  good  many  new  country 
houses.  All  these  have  gardens  and  coverts  at- 
tached to  them.  Some  of  the  old  houses  are  singu- 
larly picturesque  and  striking,  such  as  the  chateau  of 
Mirwart;  and  the  chateau  of  Dave,  with  its  forest  of 
many  thousand  acres,  is  quite  imposing.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  old  country  houses  resemble  a  manor 
house  or  mediaeval  farm  in  England.  They  are  al- 
most uniformly  built  in  a  yellowish-brown  stone, 
which  is  taken  from  the  Luxemburg  quarries.  They 
have  generally  farm  buildings  attached,  sometimes  in 
unpleasant  proximity  to  the  residence.  These  old 
houses  harmonize  with  the  landscape,  and  suggest  the 
existence  of  a  country  life  which  might  be  compared 
with  that  of  our  own  land.  But  none  of  the  members 
of  the  petite  noblesse,  to  which  they  mainly  belong, 
have  much  income,  and  consequently  their  mode  of 
living  is  conducted  on  lines  of  the  strictest  economy. 
They  are  also  very  exclusive,  not  so  much  perhaps 


COUNTRY  LIFE  IN  BELGIUM  201 

from  family  pride — for  the  history  of  these  families 
is  quite  provincial,  and  the  majority  of  their  names 
have  never  been  heard  of  outside  of  their  little  circle 
— as  from  the  dislike  to  being  eclipsed  by  the  wealthy 
newcomers  from  the  towns.  They  keep  to  themselves 
and  their  own  set,  giving  a  few  dinners  in  the  course 
of  the  year  to  their  relatives,  and  inviting  a  few  of 
their  neighbors  whom  they  regard  as  equals.  These 
dinners  are  always  held  at  one  o'clock,  and  the  after- 
noon is  passed  in  testing  the  quality  of  the  host's 
Burgundy,  the  favorite  wine  of  the  Belgians, 
which  is  nowhere  found  in  greater  perfection  than  in 
the  cellar  of  an  Ardennes  connoisseur.  All  these 
country  gentlemen  call  themselves  sportsmen,  but 
there  is  very  little  game  on  which  they  can  exercise 
their  skill,  owing  to  the  absence  of  any  system  of  pre- 
serving. Rabbits  alone  can  be  described  as  being 
plentiful.  It  is  the  fashion,  however,  for  a  certain 
number  to  club  together  and  rent  a  chassee  in  one  or 
other  of  the  forests  owned  by  the  communes.  Here  a 
certain  amount  of  game  of  a  miscellaneous  nature  is 
to  be  had,  and  during  the  season  a  subscriber  may 
hope  to  get  as  his  share  some  venison  and  a  little  wild- 
boar.  Pheasants  are  only  to  be  found  on  the  well- 
stocked  preserves  of  the  Count  de  Limburg  Stirum, 
and  a  few  other  noblemen.  Teal  and  wild-duck  still 
abound,  however,  on  the  upper  courses  of  the  Ourthe, 
and  woodcock  and  snipe  are  also  plentiful  throughout 
the  Meuse  Valley.    During  part  of  the  season  every- 


202  BELGIUM 

body  is  allowed  to  snare  these  birds  at  their  pleasure. 
In  striking  contrast  with  these  old  houses,  repre- 
senting the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  are 
the  modern  villa  or  chalet,  which  the  manufacturer  or 
shop-keeper,  having  made  a  competence,  constructs 
as  his  mats  on  de  campagne.  These  are  always  built 
in  some  brick  or  stone  of  glaring  colors,  white,  red, 
and  yellow  are  the  favorite  colors,  with  green 
verandas  and  window  frames,  and  gray  or  blue  slate 
roofs.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  favorite  town-house  trans- 
ported bodily  into  the  country,  and  to  which  covered 
balconies  for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  the  air  and  the 
view  have  been  added.  They  are  evidence  of  the  lik- 
ing that  the  Belgians  have  for  country  life,  although 
they  do  not  add  to  the  beauty  of  the  landscape.  There 
must  always  be  something  incongruous  in  the  appear- 
ance of  a  yellow  match-box-like  house,  rising  out  of 
the  wooded  crest  of  a  hill,  that  presents  in  itself  a 
charming  and  perfect  bank  of  verdure.  At  the  same 
time  it  must  be  allowed  that  this  attraction  of  wealthy 
families  from  the  towns  to  the  country  is  a  benefit  for 
the  inhabitants  of  those  provinces  where  there  has 
never  been  much  wealth  or  any  rich  class  of  residents 
to  develop  them.  Every  favored  spot  in  the  region 
named  has  its  well-to-do  resident  from  Liege  or  Brus- 
sels, and  as  soon  as  one  settles  down  others  follow  at 
no  long  interval.  The  La  Roche  Valley,  for  instance, 
is  overlooked  by  a  considerable  number  of  these  vil- 
las, and  many  Liege  manufacturers  permanently  re- 


COUNTRY  LIFE  IN  BELGIUM  203 

side  in  their  country  houses  on  the  banks  of  the  Vesdre 
and  the  Ambleve.  These  newcomers,  although  they 
evince  a  partiality  for  the  country  by  fixing  their 
residence  in  it,  do  not  take  up  the  pursuits  of  the 
country.  They  really  live  a  town  life  in  the  country. 
They  do  not  drive  much  in  the  sense  of  traversing 
distance,  and  they  walk  less.  They  only  saunter  about 
their  places,  if  the  phrase  may  be  used.  Even  garden- 
ing, in  which  they  take  most  interest,  is  done  in  a 
languid  fashion.  They  pass  a  great  part  of  the  day 
in  the  open  air,  sitting  on  their  balconies  admiring  the 
view  which  they  have  been  specially  built  to  com- 
mand, and  which  their  owners  see  every  day  without 
palling  on  them.  In  fact,  they  have  raised  the  habit 
of  doing  nothing  in  the  open  air  to  the  level  of  a 
science. 

The  houses  of  the  Walloon  peasantry  are  more 
substantial  and  attractive-looking  than  those  of  Flan- 
ders. They  are  generally  built  of  stone,  and  slates  are 
easily  obtainable  from  the  numerous  slate  quarries; 
while  in  Flanders  the  houses  are  brick  covered  with 
stucco,  which  is  generally  painted,  or  rather  washed, 
with  a  yellow  mixture.  The  ground  floor  usually  con- 
sists of  one  large  room  that  is  both  sitting-room  and 
kitchen,  while  at  the  back  there  is  a  wash-house.  Two 
or  three  bedrooms  overhead  and  a  loft  under  the  roof 
usually  complete  the  accommodation.  There  is  often 
a  cellar  and  a  penthouse  for  the  storage  of  wood ;  for 
the  collection  of  undergrowth  in  the  forests  is  un- 


204  BELGIUM 

restricted,  and  at  the  commencement  of  winter  there 
is  a  free  distribution  of  firewood  by  the  communes. 
Poultry  and  the  small  vegetable  garden  supplement 
the  earnings  of  the  householders,  and  during  the  sum- 
mer months  at  least  there  is  plenty  of  work  going  on 
through  the  large  influx  of  visitors  from  other  parts 
of  Belgium  and  from  foreign  countries.  The  Wal- 
loon is  just  as  restricted  in  his  diet  as  his  Flemish  co- 
nationalist.  He  lives  on  meager  fare,  and  flourishes 
on  it;  but  he  does  not  work  as  hard  as  the  Ftemings 
do.  He  is  more  easily  contented  and  spends  a  good 
deal  of  his  day  in  gossip.  The  Walloons  of  Liege 
are,  however,  different  from  those  of  Luxemburg. 
They  are  a  bigger  and  a  burlier  race,  probably  because 
they  are  meat-eaters,  and  they  are  the  most  impressive 
type  among  the  Belgian  nationalities. 

Country  life  in  Belgium  is  pleasant  enough  during 
the  fine  weather  of  summer  and  autumn,  but  in  the 
winter  it  requires  all  the  available  philosophy  of  those 
who  have  to  remain  in  the  provinces.  There  is  prac- 
tically nothing  to  be  done.  Those  who  have  to  gain 
their  own  living  depend  during  the  winter  on  what 
they  have  put  by  in  the  summer.  If  it  has  been  a 
good  season,  they  are  comfortable;  if  visitors  have 
been  few,  they  are  pinched,  and  relieved  when  the 
spring  brings  fresh  hope.  Those  who  have  not  the 
care  of  daily  existence  upon  their  shoulders  pass 
through  the  winter  months  in  a  state  of  stagnation, 
or  overpowered  at  last  by  ennui,  rush  off  to  Brussels 


COUNTRY  LIFE  IN  BELGIUM  205 

or  Liege.  As  has  been  said,  rural  Belgium  is  merely 
a  repetition  of  town  life;  there  is  no  genuine  country 
life  at  all.  A  Belgian  goes  into  the  provinces  to  move 
at  his  ease,  to  enjoy  the  open  air  when  it  is  fine,  and 
to  hurry  back  to  his  city  as  soon  as  the  leaves  are  off 
the  trees,  and  the  November  mists  and  snow  begin  to 
put  in  an  appearance.  The  less  fortunate  country 
gentleman,  who  has  no  town  residence,  has  to  put  up 
with  things.  The  only  excitement  he  will  be  likely  to 
have  is  when  the  wild-boar  are  driven  by  the  cold  to 
leave  the  forest  for  the  farms  in  search  of  food,  and 
then  a  great  battue  is  organized,  in  which  he  will  take 
a  leading  part. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

RELIGION   AND   EDUCATIONAL  ASPECTS 

THE  religious  question  in  Belgium  requires  very 
careful  handling,  more  especially  as  it  has  be- 
come mixed  up  with  party  politics.  But  it  will  clear 
the  ground  to  mention  that  while  there  is  no  state 
religion  in  modern  Belgium,  there  is  only  one  religion 
in  the  country  and  that  is  the  Catholic,  or,  as  we  say 
for  distinction,  the  Roman  Catholic.  In  a  population 
now  approaching  eight  millions  there  are  said  to  be 
10,000  Protestants  (French  and  English  churches) 
and  5,000  Jews.  Flemings  and  Walloons  alike  are 
Catholics.  There  is,  of  course,  a  difference  in  the 
intensity  of  their  faith  and  fervor,  and,  speaking 
broadly,  irreligion  and  free-thought  are  somewhat 
marked  characteristics  of  some  classes  among  the  Wal- 
loons, while  they  must  be  considered  as  totally  non- 
existent among  the  Flemings.  Among  those  practic- 
ing a  religion  there  is  no  difference  between  Walloons 
and  Flemings. 

This  being  the  case,  it  will  be  interesting  to  explain 
how  it  is  that  there  is  no  State  religion  in  Belgium, 
and  that  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  the  faith  of  the  whole 
people  counts  no  more  than  the  cults  of  a  small  minor- 
ity, chiefly  aliens. 

206 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION  207 

Before  the  French  Revolution  the  Church  ranked 
among  the  States  with  the  nobility  and  the  citizens. 
When  the  States  or  National  Parliament  were  sum- 
moned, the  dioceses  sent  their  bishops,  deans,  and  ab- 
bots to  the  assembly.  Liege  and  Stavelot  did  not  send 
to  the  States,  but  they  had  their  own  separate  consti- 
tutions based  on  the  supremacy  of  the  Church,  and 
more  or  less  dependent  on  the  Pope.  The  French 
Revolution  ended  this  system,  and  after  the  downfall 
of  the  Empire  it  was  not  restored.  The  explanation  of 
this  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  creation  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Netherlands  in  1815  was  based  on  the 
supremacy,  tacit  if  not  expressed,  of  a  Protestant 
dynasty.  Catholic  bishops  and  deans  could  not  expect 
much  consideration  from  the  House  of  Orange.  They 
received  even  less  than  they  expected.  By  Articles 
190-6  of  the  Fundamental  Law  of  1815  all  creeds  alike 
were  promised  protection,  and  there  was  to  be  perfect 
freedom  of  conscience.  A  still  ruder  blow  was  dealt 
by  the  refusal  to  sanction  even  a  partial  restoration 
of  the  lands  confiscated  in  1794,  for  the  Church  found 
itself  almost  stripped  of  its  possessions,  and  without 
the  means  of  organizing  the  defense  of  what  remained 
of  its  ancient  privileges.  During  the  whole  of  the 
Dutch  regime  the  Church  was  in  a  languishing  condi- 
tion, and  only  in  Ghent  and  Bruges  did  its  leaders  con- 
tinue the  struggle  with  an  unfriendly   Government. 

Such  was  the  position  of  affairs  so  far  as  the 
Church  was  concerned  when  the  Belgian  revolution 


208  BELGIUM 

broke  out  in  August,  1830.  The  revolution  was  in  a 
certain  sense  the  sequel  of  the  July  revolution  in 
France  which  dispossessed  the  Legitimist  Bourbons 
for  the  Constitutional  Orleanists.  It  was  certainly 
brought  about  to  a  large  extent  by  French  influences 
which  at  that  moment  were  non-clerical.  It  was  also 
not  at  all  clear  what  would  be  put  in  the  place  of  the 
deposed  Dutch  administration.  For  these  reasons  and 
also  on  account  of  its  own  internal  difficulties  the 
Church  did  not  take  a  prominent  part  in  the  Belgian 
insurrection,  and  when  the  National  Congress  was 
summoned,  the  Clerical  party  was  the  least  numerous 
and  influential  section  in  the  assembly.  Besides, 
French  ideas  as  well  as  language  prevailed.  No  one 
would  have  the  audacity  to  speak  in  Flemish,  and 
Flanders  was  even  then  the  stronghold  of  the  Church. 
No  one  in  Belgium  would  have  proposed  that  the 
Church  lands  refused  in  1815  should  be  restored  in 
1830-31. 

This  situation  explains  how  it  was  that  in  a  Con- 
gress composed  of  Catholics  no  one  protested  when 
the  Constitution  framers  recommended  the  separation 
of  Church  and  State.  But  the  Church  itself  betrayed 
unusual  apathy  in  not  making  some  effort  to  recover 
at  least  part  of  its  ancient  rights  and  position.  The 
overthrow  of  the  Protestant  Dutch  Government  did 
not  entail  any  difference  in  the  religious  clause  of  the 
fundamental  law.  All  cults  were  to  be  free  and  equal 
in  the  eyes  of  the  law ;  no  one  was  to  be  disqualified 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION  209 

from  public  office  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions. 
One  reservation  only  was  made.  It  was  stipulated 
that  the  Sovereign  of  the  country  should  be  a  Cath- 
olic, but  the  condition  had  to  be  waived  in  the  case  of 
Leopold  I,  who  refused  to  change  his  religion.  His 
children  were,  however,  brought  up  in  the  old  faith, 
and  the  clause  of  the  Constitution  stipulating  that  the 
Sovereign  must  be  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church 
may  now  be  regarded  as  possessing  full  and  perma- 
nent force. 

Since  the  reign  of  Philip  II,  when  the  Pope  first 
created  the  dignity  and  conferred  it  on  the  celebrated 
Cardinal  Granvelle,  the  Archbishop  of  Malines  has 
been  Primate  of  Belgium.  The  number  of  bishops 
dependent  on  him  has  varied  at  different  periods,  but 
since  modern  Belgium  came  into  existence  they  have 
been  limited  to  five.  They  are  Liege,  Ghent,  Bruges, 
Tournai,  and  Namur.  The  last  official  return  shows 
that  the  total  number  of  the  clergy  in  the  six  dioceses 
amounts  to  190  of  the  rank  of  deans  and  5,602  of  the 
inferior  ranks  of  the  hierarchy.  All  these  ministers 
receive  a  salary  from  the  State.  The  Archbishop  is 
allowed  $4,500  a  year  and  each  Bishop  $3,000  a  year. 

Each  diocese  is  divided  into  a  certain  number  of 
cures,  and  each  cure  receives  $410  a  year  and  is  pro- 
vided with  a  house.  The  vicaires,  who  correspond  to 
curates  with  us,  rarely  receive  more  than  $150  a  year, 
but  they  reside  in  the  cure's  house.  In  measuring  the 
importance  of  these  salaries  it  must  be  remembered 


210  BELGIUM 

that  the  clergy  are  all  celibates.  Besides  in  each 
church  or  chapel  there  are  special  collecting  boxes  for 
the  support  of  the  clergy,  and  a  part  of  the  general 
offertories  goes  to  the  up-keep  of  the  Church,  which 
necessarily  includes  the  sustenance  of  its  clergy.  The 
regular  clergy  are  consequently  far  more  comfortable 
and  well  cared  for  than  the  small  official  salary  would 
seem  to  convey.  All  receipts  go  into  a  common  fund, 
and  it  is  breaking  no  secret  to  say  that  they  live  very 
well.  Good  food  and  plenty  of  it  is  still  an  ideal  of 
Belgian  life,  and  the  priests  are  no  exception  to  the 
rule.  They  are  also  very  hospitable,  and  when  they 
detain  a  friend  to  dinner,  a  bottle  of  Burgundy  will 
not  fail  to  be  forthcoming.  In  the  provinces  the  house 
of  the  cure  has  always  a  vegetable  garden,  and  gen- 
erally a  wall  for  fruit,  and  for  the  favored  guest 
there  will  follow  a  choice  dessert  as  well. 

Besides  the  regular  clergy  there  are  the  various 
religious  orders  which  have  always  been  prominent 
and  prosperous  in  Belgium.  Before  the  French  Revo- 
lution it  was  computed  that  they  owned  half  the  land 
in  Belgium,  and  it  is  still  the  practice  of  the  Socialists 
to  denounce  them,  because  by  the  mere  fact  that  they 
are  better  organized  than  ordinary  individuals  their 
wealth  accumulates,  and  their  possessions  by  growth 
attract  more  notice. 

The  following  statistics  show  their  exact  strength 
and  position  in  the  country.  In  the  year  1900  (the 
latest  for  which  these  statistics  were  published)  there 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION  211 

were  2,474  separate  religious  houses  in  the  country. 
These  were  divided  into  291  for  men  and  2,183  for 
women.  They  were  inhabited  by  6,237  priests  or 
brothers,  and  31,668  nuns  and  sisters.  Of  the  former 
4,597  were  born  in  Belgium  and  of  the  latter  26,368. 
It  follows  that  1,690  men  and  5,300  women  of  the 
total  conventional  population  of  Belgium  were  for- 
eigners. 

The  greater  number  of  these  orders  are  devoted 
to  practical  objects.  There  are  389  houses  devoted 
to  the  care  of  the  sick,  1,248  to  education,  and  only 
178  to  an  exclusively  religious  ministration;  47  com- 
bine nursing  and  religious  contemplation,  and  263 
teaching  and  religious  contemplation.  Over  17,000 
nuns  and  sisters  are  engaged  in  some  form  or  other 
of  female  instruction.  Most  of  the  nursing  in  Bel- 
gium is  done  by  the  religious  orders,  and  some  of 
them  have  taken  up  the  profession  in  full  conformity 
with  the  rules  and  requirements  of  modern  science. 
This  is  especially  the  case  in  the  large  cities. 

In  1907  the  Government  grant  to  the  Catholic 
clergy  amounted  to  $1,250,000  for  the  year,  and  a 
further  sum  of  $180,000  was  allocated  for  Church 
buildings.  Other  expenses  figured  at  $10,000.  The 
reader  will  be  able  to  form  an  opinion  for  himself  as 
to  the  relative  position  of  the  several  creeds  in  Bel- 
gium when  it  is  stated  that  the  grants  to  Protestants 
and  Jews  together  amounted  to  no  more  than  $29,400. 
It  is  impossible  to  give  any  idea  of  the  total  value  of 


212  BELGIUM 

the  Church  possessions  in  Belgium,  but  perhaps  $250,- 
000,000  is  not  an  overstatement. 

Although  the  Church  of  Rome  then  is  not  the 
State  Church  in  Belgium,  it  possesses  an  unquestioned 
predominance  that  no  one  could  dispute.  When  mod- 
ern Belgium  was  formed,  it  happened  to  be  in  a  lan- 
guishing and  embarrassed  condition.  For  many  years 
it  possessed  no  efficient  organization  and  the  spoils 
of  power  remained  with  the  party  which  was  anti- 
Catholic.  But  fifty  years  ago  the  Catholics  decided 
to  make  their  influence  felt,  and  they,  too,  began  to 
organize  as  their  opponents  had  been  doing  for  thirty 
years  before  in  the  press  and  among  the  public.  This 
they  did  with  such  consummate  skill  that  they  ousted 
the  Liberals  from  office  in  1884,  and  they  have  re- 
tained the  administrative  power  ever  since.  The  hold 
which  they  have  established  on  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple is  not  altogether  due  to  cleverness  and  skill.  It 
has  been  effected  and  strengthened  by  the  great  serv- 
ices the  clergy  have  rendered  and  are  rendering  to  the 
people  of  Belgium.  It  is  impossible  to  ignore  the  fact 
that  they  do  their  best  to  assist  their  congregations 
in  every  way,  and  the  credit  of  all  the  best  work  in 
Belgium  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  the  suffering 
must  go  to  them.  The  so-called  Liberal  organization 
is  purely  political.  It  is  not  marked  by  any  beneficent 
work,  it  aims  wholly  at  the  placing  of  a  particular 
party  in  power. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  give  even  a  skeleton  of  a 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION  213 

list  of  the  Catholic  institutions  in  Belgium  which  are 
engaged  in  beneficent  work.  But  the  Benedictine 
Abbey  of  Maredsous  combines  the  utilitarian  and  the 
aesthetic  in  such  a  superb  degree  that  it  may  be  chosen 
as  an  example.  Over  Belgium  are  strewn  the  remains 
of  ancient  and  mediaeval  abbeys  that  were  the  pride  of 
Christian  Europe.  Orval  and  Villers  in  their  way  have 
never  been  surpassed.  Maredsous  is  not  the  legacy 
of  the  past.  It  is  a  recreation  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
dating  no  farther  back  in  its  origin  than  1782,  but 
here  the  early  builders  of  the  Church  might  find  cause 
of  envy.  The  admirer  of  pointed  Gothic  might  find 
it  difficult  to  choose  between  the  modern  abbey  of 
Maredsous  (in  Entre  Sambre  and  Meuse)  and  any 
of  its  prototypes.  Here,  thanks  in  the  first  place  to 
the  philanthropy  of  a  rich  Belgian  of  Tournai,  the 
Benedictine  order  of  Beuron  in  Suabia  (a  noble  or- 
der) established  itself  and  has  flourished  marvelously. 
The  Benedictines  are  the  intellectual  propagandists 
of  their  Church.  They  claim  the  best  teachers  in  Bel- 
gium. They  are  ready  to  take  up  any  work  that  may 
be  imposed  upon  them.  But  at  Maredsous  they  have 
a  special  and  beautiful  mission.  Nowhere  else  are 
pupils  trained  to  such  perfection  in  the  pure  Gregorian 
chant.  To  hear  Salve  Regina  chanted  among  the 
aisles  of  the  abbey  of  Maredsous  is  a  treat  for  the 
senses  not  to  be  enjoyed  out  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome. 
The  Abbey  of  Maredsous  is  a  magnificent  modern 
achievement,  and  the  contrast  may  be  found  close  at 


214  BELGIUM 

hand  in  the  ruins  of  Montaigle.  It  is  true  that  it  is 
somewhat  remote,  lying  on  the  branch  line  from 
Tamines  to  Dinant,  but  the  trouble  of  getting  there 
will  be  amply  rewarded.  The  Benedictine  brothers 
are  very  hospitable  to  those  who  have  any  claim  to 
expect  it,  and  for  those  who  have  not  there  is  an  ex- 
cellent hotel  at  Emmaus,  almost  at  the  gates  of  the 
abbey's  domain. 

The  system  of  education  in  force  in  Belgium  is 
simple,  comprehensive,  and  free.  No  one  has  to  pay 
for  the  education  of  his  children  if  he  cannot  afford 
to  do  so.  The  instruction  given  by  the  State  includes 
practical  as  well  as  theoretical  subjects.  For  instance, 
girls  are  taught  to  cook  and  sew,  and  youths  are  in- 
culcated in  the  rudiments  of  agriculture  or  some  in- 
dustrial pursuit.  At  the  universities  degrees  can  be 
taken  in  the  several  schools  at  fees  that  bring  them 
within  the  most  moderate  means. 

State  education  is  divided  into  three  categories — 
primary,  secondary,  and  superior.  Primary  education 
is  based  on  the  fundamental  law  of  1842  which  made 
education  compulsory  and  free,  but  left  religious  in- 
struction in  the  hands  of  the  different  churches — that 
is  to  say,  for  nine-tenths  of  the  population  the  Church 
of  Rome.  The  law  required  each  commune  to  main- 
tain at  least  one  free  school.  The  old  law  was  modi- 
fied in  1879  (abrogated),  and  again  in  1884,  1895,  and 
1910;  but  the  effect  of  these  subsequent  enactments 
has  not  been  to  modify  the  essential  provisions  of  the 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION  215 

original  law,  That  of  1910  is  the  most  radical,  for  it 
will  possibly  lead  to  the  substitution  of  Flemish  for 
French  as  the  vernacular  language  in  many  of  the 
schools  of  Brabant  and  Hainaut.  In  the  year  1908 
there  were  914,709  pupils  in  primary  schools  subject 
to  State  inspection,  and  of  these  only  50,861  paid  any 
fees.  There  were  in  the  year  named  7,355  schools 
divided  between  4,629  communal  and  2,726  "adopted" 
schools.  The  adopted  schools  are  those  recognized 
as  existing  at  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  law  of 
1842.  They  are  chiefly  Church  schools,  and  with  re- 
gard to  female  education  they  are  more  numerous 
than  those  belonging  to  the  commune.  The  total  cost 
of  these  schools  in  1907  is  given  at  about  $10,600,- 
000,  of  which  the  State  provided  nearly  21,  the 
commune  nearly  27,  the  provinces  2^2,  and  parents 
1^4,  all  in  million  francs,  the  balances  coming  from 
minor  sources.  The  total  number  of  teachers  in  the 
year  1908  was  19,707.  These  may  be  subdivided  into 
8,313  male  lay  teachers,  and  795  priests,  and  5,113 
female  lay  teachers,  and  5,486  sisters  of  the  different 
religious  orders.  This,  in  its  way,  furnishes  proof 
that  the  Church  has  a  closer  hold  on  female  than  male 
education. 

Primary  education  is  not  confined  to  children. 
There  are  primary  schools  for  adults  whose  educa- 
tion has  been  neglected  or  never  commenced.  In 
1908,  which  showed  an  enormous  increase  in  the 
system  as  compared  with  previous  years,  there  were 


216  BELGIUM 

4,473  of  those  schools  with  a  total  attendance  of 
227,220.  The  communal  schools  had  71,433  males 
and  14,159  females  inscribed  on  their  lists,  while  the 
totals  for  the  adopted  schools  were  53,673  males  and 
87,955  females.  The  grand  total  of  persons  receiving 
primary  education  is  over  1,142,000. 

According  to  the  law  primary  education  is  sup- 
posed to  continue  till  the  age  of  fourteen,  but  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact  it  ceases  at  twelve  unless  it  is  intended  that 
the  pupil  shall  pass  into  a  secondary  school.  These, 
of  course,  are  a  comparative  minority  and  consist 
chiefly  of  candidates  for  Government  posts. 

Secondary  education  is  divided  into  two  grades, 
preparatory  and  superior.  Of  preparatory  schools 
there  are  over  78  State,  6  communal,  and  5  under 
priests'  patronage  for  boys,  and  34  State  and  10  com- 
munal for  girls.  In  1909  the  numbers  of  pupils  at  the 
former,  taken  in  their  order,  were  15,375,  2,662,  and 
623 ;  and  for  girls  6,207  and  2,665  respectively. 

The  superior  grade  schools  are  20  Royal  Athenae- 
ums, 7  Communal  Colleges,  and  8  Colleges  under  pri- 
vate patronage.  In  1909  the  Athenaeums  had  6,047 
pupils,  the  Communal  Colleges  724,  and  the  patronized 
1,133.  The  Athenees,  or  Athenaeums,  which  are  called 
Royal,  because  they  are  under  the  direct  patronage  of 
the  King,  are  the  nearest  approach  to  the  British 
Grammar  School.  Classics  and  mathematics  form  part 
of  the  regular  curriculum,  and  it  is  assumed  that  most 
of  the  scholars  will  proceed  to  one  of  the  Universities. 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION  217 

The  majority  of  the  pupils  are  non-resident,  but  the 
masters  are  allowed  to  take  in  boarders.  The  twenty 
Athenees  are  situated  at  Antwerp,  Malines,  Brussels, 
Ixelles,  Louvain,  Bruges,  Ostend,  Ghent,  Ath,  Char- 
leroy,  Chimay,  Mons,  Tournai,  Huy,  Liege,  Verviers, 
Hasselt,  Tongres,  Arlon,  and  Namur. 

In  1907  the  State  contributed  $862,229.40,  and 
the  communes  $434,289.80  towards  secondary  educa- 
tion. 

Superior  or  High  education  in  Belgium  is  given 
at  the  four  Universities:  Ghent,  Liege,  Brussels,  and 
Louvain,  the  two  first  named  being  State,  and  the 
latter  Free  Universities.  Special  Schools  are  attached 
to  the  Universities,  but  these  are  more  important  at 
the  State  Universities  than  the  others.  The  follow- 
ing are  the  number  of  the  students  in  1908-09,  dis- 
tinguishing between  the  regular  faculties  and  the 
Special  Schools: 

Name  of  University  Faculties         Schools  Total 

Ghent    443  640  1,083 

Liege    1,670  970  2,640 

Brussels    845  369  1,214 

Louvain   2,075  250  2,325 

Grand    Totals 5,033         2,229  7,262 

It  may  be  mentioned  that  at  Ghent  the  principal 
special  course  is  for  Civil  Engineering,  at  Liege  for 
Mining  and  Electrical  Engineering,  at  Brussels  for 
social  and  political  science,  and  at  Louvain  for  The- 
ology and  Agricultural  Science. 

Notwithstanding  the  excellence  of  its  laws  on  pub- 


218  BELGIUM 

lie  instruction,  there  is  more  illiteracy  in  Belgium  than 
would  be  expected.  Some  writers  have  placed  it  as 
high  as  30  per  cent,  but  although  that  is  excessive,  it 
is  not  easy  to  say  what  is  the  correct  proportion.  It 
is  easier  to  explain  the  cause  of  it.  The  teachers  in 
the  primary  schools  do  not  possess  sufficient  qualifica- 
tions for  their  mission,  and  what  is  learnt  before 
twelve  is  very  easily  forgotten  when  no  subsequent 
occasion  to  turn  it  to  account  or  stimulus  to  fresh 
exertions  presents  itself. 

Teachers  in  the  Primary  Schools  are  selected  from 
those  who  pass  through  the  Secondary  Schools,  and 
the  selection  is  made  by  the  Communes.  There  were 
in  1908  nineteen  normal  male  and  thirty-five  normal 
female  establishments,  at  which  there  were  2,180  and 
2,575  persons  of  the  two  sexes  in  training  respectively, 
as  teachers  in  the  Primary  Schools.  Of  these  470  and 
563  received  the  necessary  diploma  of  efficiency  in  the 
year  named,  but  the  supply  far  exceeds  the  demand. 

The  pay  of  the  school  teacher  is,  according  to  our 
ideas,  very  low.  The  law  stipulates  that  it  shall  never 
be  less  than  $200  per  annum,  and  leaves  everything 
else  in  the  hands  of  the  commune.  The  headmaster 
of  a  school  receives  from  $240  a  year  in  a  small,  to 
$480  a  year  in  a  large  commune.  He  also  has  an 
allowance  for  a  house  ranging  from  $40  to  $160  per 
annum.  Finally,  an  annual  increment  at  the  rate  of 
$5  per  annum  is  allowed  for  a  period  of  twenty-four 
years. 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION  219 

Although  the  State  does  not  take  an  active  part 
in  the  management  of  the  schools,  it  exercises  a  cer- 
tain control  over  them  by  inspection.  Subject  to  the 
Ministry  of  the  Interior  and  Education,  are  District 
Inspectors  who  are  supposed  to  visit  every  school  in 
their  district  twice  a  year,  and  to  preside  at  a  meeting 
of  all  the  teaching  staff  once  a  quarter.  These  officials 
receive  a  salary  of  from  $600  to  $900  a  year.  Above 
these  are  nine  chief  Inspectors,  one  for  each  Province, 
at  a  salary  of  $1,500  per  annum.  They  are  supposed 
to  visit  every  school  once  in  two  years,  and  they  report 
direct  to  the  Minister  in  Brussels. 

A  few  words  may  be  said  in  conclusion  about  a 
certain  number  of  special  educational  institutions 
which  do  not  come  under  the  regular  routine  of  the 
educational  laws.  These  exist  for  technical  training 
purposes. 

There  are  sixty-eight  commercial  schools  run  by 
different  communes  with  an  attendance  (in  1908)  of 
4,950;  183  free  schools  with  an  attendance  of  19,004. 
There  are  eighty-one  industrial  schools  subject  to  the 
communes  with  an  attendance  of  23,418,  and  eight 
free,  attended  by  1,686  students.  Special  schools  of 
a  higher  grade  are  to  be  found  at  Antwerp,  Liege, 
Mons,  and  Ghent.  Among  them  may  be  named  the 
Superior  Commercial  Institute  and  the  St.  Ignatius 
Institute,  both  at  Antwerp,  the  High  Commercial 
Schools  at  Liege  and  Louvain,  both  intended  for 
training  consular  agents,  the  Manufacturers'  School 


220  BELGIUM 

at  Mons,  and  different  technical  schools  of  minor 
importance  at  Ghent  (brewing  and  distilling),  Ver- 
viers  (textiles),  and  Virton  (arts  and  trades).  There 
are  also  seventy-nine  schools  for  special  training  in 
household  work  and  duties  with  an  inscribed  list  of 
2,865  attending.  In  addition  to  the  schools  there  are 
195  special  household  classes  with  an  attendance  of 
6,947  attached  to  different  elementary  schools. 

There  are  two  special  schools  for  military  educa- 
tion. They  are  the  Ecole  Militaire  in  Brussels,  and 
the  School  of  Cadets  at  Namur.  The  former  is  far 
the  more  important,  and  the  scholars  number  on  an 
average  240.  Formerly  it  was  located  in  the  old 
Abbey  of  the  Cambre  near  the  Bois  of  that  name,  but 
the  position  was  unhealthy,  and  a  fine  new  school  near 
the  Pare  du  Cinquantenaire  and  the  Avenue  de  Ter- 
vueren  now  accommodates  the  scholars,  who  wear  a 
military  uniform.  On  State  occasions  the  Ecole 
Militaire  take  the  lead  of  all  the  troops  present. 

The  Cadets  School  at  Namur  dates  only  from  1897, 
and  there  were,  in  1908-09,  108  civil  and  eighty-three 
military  cadets  on  its  list.  The  military  cadets  supply 
the  army  with  non-commissioned  officers,  and  the 
civil  cadets  are  supposed  to  be  intended  for  some 
branch  of  the  public  service. 

In  the  same  way,  it  does  not  follow  that  all  the 
cadets  at  the  Ecole  Militaire  enter  the  army.  The 
educational  course  there  being  highly  esteemed,  many 
parents  decide  to  send  their  sons  to  this  school  in 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION  221 

preference  to  an  Athenee,  the  tone  of  the  place  being 
higher.  But  the  best  of  all  the  schools  in  Belgium  is 
that  kept  by  the  Jesuit  order  in  Brussels,  near  the 
Palais  de  Justice.  Only  Catholics  of  good  family  are 
received,  and  the  order  aims  at  turning  out  gentlemen 
as  well  as  scholars.  In  the  same  way,  the  highest 
class  schools  for  young  ladies  are  those  attached  to 
Convents.  One  of  the  most  famous  of  these  is  at 
St.  Hubert. 

Special  schools  exist  for  educating  the  blind  and 
deaf  mutes.  In  1908  there  were  in  the  kingdom 
3,218  of  the  former  and  4,036  of  the  latter,  and  with 
comparatively  few  exceptions  they  are  returned  as 
susceptible  of  receiving  instruction.  Of  these  1,145 
males  and  972  females  were  receiving  primary  educa- 
tion in  nineteen  schools  endowed  by  the  State. 
Finally,  there  are  three  training-schools  for  the  mer- 
cantile marine.  They  are  at  Ostend,  Antwerp,  and 
Nieuport  with  160,  ninety- five,  and  eight  pupils  re- 
spectively in  1908.  A  training-ship  has  also  been 
commissioned,  but  its  cruises  are  somewhat  rare,  and 
since  the  mishap  to  the  training-ship  Smet  de  Naeyer, 
named  after  a  recent  Premier,  there  has  been  a  lull 
in  the  effort  to  endow  Belgium  with  the  cadre  for  a 
navy. 

Free  public  or  popular  libraries  exist  in  many  of 
the  communes.  There  are  913  libraries  in  the  2,629 
communes.  There  were  nearly  3,322,644  readers,  and 
1,535,523  volumes  were  borrowed.     These  figures  do 


222  BELGIUM 

not  include  the  returns  of  the  Brussels  Library,  which 
corresponds  to  our  British  Museum.  In  1908,  40,997 
persons  used  the  reading-room,  these  showing  an 
average  daily  attendance  of  137.  In  addition  1,245 
students  attended  the  MSS.  room,  and  8,956  persons 
made  use  of  the  room  set  aside  for  periodicals. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE   ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE 

1^  HE  laws  of  Belgium  are  contained  in  a  collection 
called  the  "Codes  Beiges."  They  are  a  sort  of 
grafting  of  the  old  laws  of  the  Nine  Provinces  on  the 
Code  Napoleon  which  was  effected  under  the  charge 
of  a  special  commission,  appointed  after  the  establish- 
ment of  national  rule.  The  commission  completed  its 
labors  in  the  year  1835,  when  the  Codes  were  pub- 
lished. Of  course,  many  new  laws  have  been  added 
since,  but  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  first  statute- 
book  have  never  been  departed  from.  For  instance, 
capital  punishment  remains  on  the  statute,  and  mur- 
derers are  still  sentenced  to  death  in  Belgian  courts, 
although  no  one  has  been  executed  for  over  half  a 
century. 

We  are  rather  given  to  say  in  this  country  that 
everything  is  decided  by  precedent,  but  in  Belgium 
the  adherence  to  rule  is  even  more  strict.  The  high- 
est of  all  the  Courts  in  Belgium,  that  is  the  Cour  de 
Cassation,  has  indeed  no  other  role  than  to  supervise 
judgments,  and  see  how  far  they  conform  with  the 
principles  and  penalties  laid  down  in  the  Code.  Only 
when  a  Minister  of  State  has  to  be  tried  is  the  Cour 
de  Cassation  used  as  a  Court  of  open  trial.     This 

223 


224  BELGIUM 

Court  consists  of  only  one  judge,  who  has  under  him 
a  body  of  revisors,  and  the  President  of  the  Court 
enjoys  the  position  of  being  the  best-paid  judge  in 
Belgium,  with  a  salary  of  $4,000  per  annum.  The 
salaries  of  the  judges  is  evidence  of  the  low  scale  on 
which  salaries  run  in  Belgium.  A  Judge  of  Appeal 
gets  $2,000  a  year.  A  Juge  de  Paix,  of  whom  there 
are  222  in  the  country,  receives  from  $800  to  $1,100 
per  annum. 

For  civil  justice  there  are  three  Appeal  Courts  or 
groups  of  courts  in  the  country.  They  are  at  Brus- 
sels, Ghent,  and  Liege  respectively,  and  dependent  on 
these  are  the  Juge  de  Paix  courts,  each  of  which  marks 
a  canton.  Reporting  to  the  Brussels  Courts  are  eighty- 
three  cantons,  to  Ghent  sixty-five,  and  to  Liege  sev- 
enty-four. Immediately  under  the  three  Appeal 
Courts  are  the  Courts  of  First  Instance,  in  which  all 
civil  cases  are  heard  before  they  can  be  carried  to  the 
Appeal  Courts.  Statistics  show  that  about  one  case  in 
eight  reaches  the  Appeal  Court.  These  Courts  of 
First  Instance  are  to  be  found  in  all  the  towns  of 
importance  and  number  twenty-six  for  the  whole 
kingdom.  They  are  supplemented  by  tribunals  of 
commerce  in  Antwerp,  Ghent,  and  Liege.  In  1908 
there  were  517  commercial  failures  and  390  distraints 
of  goods. 

In  the  last-mentioned  cases  the  object  of  the  Juge 
de  Paix  is  to  arrange  the  matter  to  the  satisfaction  of 
everybody,  and  this  explains  why  80  per  cent  of  the 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE        225 

cases  are  settled  without  a  formal  judgment  being 
given.  Criminal  cases  are  tried  before  three  orders 
of  courts — Assize,  Correctional,  and  Police  Courts. 

Here  again  the  same  desire  to  inflict  moderate 
penalties  and  thus  to  prevent  bad  blood  between  the 
accusers,  the  accused,  and  their  relations  may  be  dis- 
covered in  the  large  number  of  fines  imposed,  which 
in  the  police  courts  rarely  exceed  one  dollar.  There 
has  been  a  marked  diminution  in  the  amount  of  crime 
in  Belgium.  Sixty  years  ago  the  average  number  of 
persons  sentenced  to  death  was  forty  in  each  year, 
and  they  were  executed  into  the  bargain.  Today  the 
extreme  cases  average  five  a  year,  but  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  commutation  in  these  instances  does 
not  mean  to  ordinary  imprisonment  for  life,  but  to 
perpetual  seclusion  and  silence. 

There  are  two  classes  of  prisons,  distinguished  as 
central  and  secondary.  In  the  former,  the  principal 
of  which  are  at  Louvain  and  Ghent,  the  number  of 
prisoners  of  both  sexes  undergoing  a  term  of  im- 
prisonment at  the  end  of  1908  was  734.  It  is  not  at 
all  easy  to  analyze  the  returns  of  the  secondary 
prisons  through  which  the  great  majority  pass  in  and 
out  every  few  days.  The  average  population  on  any 
day  in  1908  is  given  at  3,797  men  and  378  women. 
About  140  boys  and  girls  were  detained  in  reforma- 
tories, and  there  are  agricultural  colonies  for  those 
who  are  deemed  reclaimable.  The  most  noteworthy 
of  these  establishments  is  at  Merxplas  in  the  north 


226  BELGIUM 

of  Belgium,  where  the  detained,  some  2,000  in  num- 
ber, are  allowed  their  liberty  within  a  certain  area. 

There  are  two  institutions  in  Belgium  of  a  quasi- 
judicial  character  that  claim  mention.  They  are  the 
"Depots  de  Mendicite"  and  the  "Maisons  de  Refuge." 
The  distinction  is  one  well  worth  imitating  in  this 
country.  The  "Maisons  de  Refuge"  are  shelters  pro- 
vided for  the  really  deserving  poor  and  "out  of  work," 
who  through  no  fault  of  their  own  have  no  home  to 
sleep  in,  and  are  in  danger  of  starvation.  There  is  no 
legal  disadvantage  or  penalty  in  the  eyes  of  the  law 
in  having  been  the  inmate  of  a  "Maison  de  Refuge." 
It  is  for  "the  wrecks  of  the  high  road"  and  those  who 
have  gone  under  in  the  battle  of  life. 

It  is  otherwise  with  the  "Depots  de  Mendicite," 
which  are  the  receptacles  for  the  professional  and 
worthless  beggar,  the  man  who  has  made  his  liveli- 
hood out  of  begging.  The  official  definition  of  those 
consigned  to  a  depot  is  "able-bodied  individuals  who 
instead  of  working  for  their  sustenance  seek  the  aid 
of  the  charitable  as  professional  beggars,  or  those  who 
through  laziness,  drunkenness,  and  debauchery  live  in 
a  condition  of  vagabondage."  Felons  sentenced  to  less 
than  a  year's  imprisonment  may  on  release  from  prison 
be  consigned  to  a  depot.  In  plain  English  the  Belgian 
law  differentiates  clearly  between  those  in  need  and 
those  who  beg  through  laziness  and  aversion  to  work. 
The  average  daily  population  of  the  depots  was  5,421 
in  1908,  and  of  the  Maisons  de  Refuge  1,279.     The 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE      ,  227 

student  who  wishes  to  compare  the  social  condition 
of  different  countries  may  profitably  study  the  returns 
of  our  workhouse  population  in  contrast  with  these 
figures. 

The  judges  are  chosen  from  the  members  of  the 
bar,  who  are  called  "avocats"  or  barristers.  They  are 
appointed  by  the  King,  are  practically  irremovable, 
but  in  cases  of  misconduct  or  mental  incapacity  can 
be  deprived  of  their  office  by  the  unanimous  vote  of 
their  brother  judges.  Such  a  case  does  not  appear  to 
have  arisen. 

Barristers  are  recruited  from  students  who  have 
taken  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  at  one  of  the 
universities,  and  who  then  notify  their  intention  to 
plead  in  the  courts.  The  fees  for  admission  to  the 
bar  are  little  more  than  nominal.  Barristers  do  not 
work  in  the  Juge  de  Paix  Courts.  Their  principal 
practice  is  in  the  Appeal  Courts  and  the  Tribunaux 
de  Commerce.  On  the  criminal  side  they  appear  in 
the  Assize  and  Correctional  Courts  alone.  The  fees 
are  small,  but  the  leaders  in  the  Appeal  Courts  receive 
payments  approximating  to  our  own  scale.  One  of  the 
best-paid  posts  open  to  the  bar  is  that  of  Procureur 
du  Roi,  that  is,  Crown  Prosecutor,  and  as  the  work 
is  heavy  and  the  holder  of  the  substantial  appointment 
may  be  otherwise  engaged,  he  has  the  right  to  name  a 
substitute  among  his  brother  barristers.  To  simplify 
the  transaction  of  business  a  list  is  kept  at  each  court 
of  barristers  eligible  to  act  as  Procureurs  du  Roi. 


228  BELGIUM 

Although  a  barrister  may  be  instructed  by  his 
client  direct,  and  it  is  usual  to  do  so,  there  are  also 
solicitors  in  Belgium.  They  are  called  avoues.  They 
must  have  taken  a  degree  in  law  at  one  of  the  uni- 
versities, and  obtained  a  diploma  authorizing  them  to 
practice  their  profession.  It  is  not  very  easy  to  under- 
stand how  the  avoue  obtains  a  sufficiency  of  work, 
seeing  that  the  most  profitable  functions  of  the  pro- 
fession are  discharged  by  the  "notaire."  This  may 
explain  why  there  are  so  few  avoues  and  these  only 
in  the  most  important  cities. 

But  the  notaire  is  everywhere.  He  is  the  indis- 
pensable man  of  business,  through  whom  every  one 
in  Belgium  possessing  any  property  at  all  transacts 
his  or  her  affairs.  His  public  duties  consist  exclu- 
sively of  receiving  and  confirming  affidavits.  To  that 
extent  he  is  a  Commissioner  of  Oaths;  the  civil  mar- 
riage is  also  performed  in  his  presence  at  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  or  the  Maison  Communale.  But  the  bulk 
of  his  work  is  done  as  agent  or  representative  for  his 
clients,  and  it  is  very  profitable  work,  the  general 
opinion  being  that  a  notaire  ought  to  make  a  fair 
retiring  fortune  in  twenty  years.  Many  decayed  es- 
tates among  the  provincial  noblesse  have  been  restored 
by  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  a  notaire. 

The  notaire  is  also  the  man  of  business.  All  sales 
and  purchases  of  estates  and  house  property  are  ef- 
fected through  him.  He  generally  keeps  the  family 
deeds  and  securities,  and  as  branches  of  banks  are  very 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE        229 

rare  in  Belgium,  he  is  to  a  large  extent  the  local 
banker,  always  it  must  be  understood  for  his  clients 
alone  and  not  for  the  public  at  large.  While  the 
notaire  discharges  certain  legal  business,  he  is  not  a 
man  of  the  law,  and  holds  no  legal  degree  or  other 
qualification.  He  is  a  man  of  business  and  finance. 
It  is  not  easy  to  ascertain  the  exact  number  of  notaires, 
but  there  is  at  least  one  for  each  canton,  and  in  great 
cities  there  are,  of  course,  as  many  as  think  they  can 
find  a  living.  As  a  rule,  a  Belgian  will  only  go  to 
law  after  he  has  first  consulted  his  notaire  on  the 
subject  at  issue.  The  notaires  as  a  body  are  highly 
honorable  men,  but  sometimes  the  handling  of  their 
clients'  money  induces  them  to  speculate  on  the  bourse, 
and  when  they  come  to  grief  there  is  almost  as  much 
suffering  as  arises  from  the  failure  of  a  savings  bank 
here. 

The  machinery  of  the  law  in  Belgium  for  civil 
actions  is  simple  and  far  from  costly  to  put  in  motion. 
The  number  of  cases  entered  also  proves  that  the  peo- 
ple are  by  no  means  averse  to  litigation,  and  for  some 
time  past  complaints  have  been  rife  as  to  the  law's 
delay.  The  large  number  of  cases  not  reached  at  the 
end  of  each  year  is  proof  that  the  courts  are  over- 
worked. This  result  is  tending  to  diminish  the  eager- 
ness formerly  shown  in  going  to  law,  and  much  of  the 
work  that  now  falls  on  avocats  and  avoues  is  done  in 
attempting  to  arrive  at  settlements  out  of  court.  The 
only  court  which  shows  an  increasing  amount  of  busi- 


230  BELGIUM 

ness  is  the  divorce  court.  In  Belgium,  civil  marriage 
being  the  legal  one,  the  courts  can  dissolve  the  mar- 
riage tie  without  the  intervention  of  the  Church. 

On  the  criminal  side  of  justice  the  tendency  is  to 
minimize  rather  than  exaggerate  the  gravity  of  an 
offense.  This  remark  does  not  apply  to  the  old  of- 
fender, and  it  may  even  be  held  that  he  does  not  get 
much  consideration.  To  have  offended  once  against 
the  law  is  regarded  almost  as  proof  positive  of  guilt 
in  regard  to  any  fresh  charge.  In  Belgium  every 
citizen  is  on  the  register  of  the  Etat  Civil  at  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  of  a  city,  or  the  Maison  Communale  of  a 
commune.  In  addition  to  this  registration  all  persons 
employed  in  domestic  service  or  in  shops  and  restau- 
rants are  supplied  by  the  police  with  a  little  book 
called  indifferently  "livret"  or  "carnet,"  in  which  not 
merely  their  names  and  family  history  are  given,  but 
also  all  changes  of  employment.  These  books  have  to 
be  shown  at  the  postoffice  with  each  change  of  place, 
and  as  the  last  employer  inscribes  the  reason  for  leav- 
ing, there  is  a  complete  history  of  the  individual's 
life  with  information  as  to  his  or  her  character.  In 
any  dispute  or  trouble  with  an  employee,  the  very 
first  question  the  police  agent  asks  is,  "Give  me  your 
livret."  The  servant  has  a  bad  time  and  will  be  cer- 
tainly fined  if  neglect  has  been  shown  in  keeping  up 
the  record. 

The  agents  de  police,  who  are  only  to  be  found  in 
the  great  cities,  are  an  admirable  body  of  men,  and  if 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE        231 

we  omit  the  qualification  of  regulating  street  traffic,  in 
which  they  have  no  experience,  need  not  fear  com- 
parison with  any  other  civil  force  in  the  world.  They 
carry  a  small  sword  in  a  leather  sheath,  but  it  is  very 
rarely  drawn,  practically  speaking  never  in  the  day- 
time save  on  the  occasion  of  Socialist  disorders.  At 
night  they  also  carry  a  revolver,  but  except  in  no- 
toriously bad  quarters,  like  the  rue  Haute  in  Brussels, 
armed  collisions  rarely  occur.  As  all  foreigners  have 
to  notify  their  presence  in  Belgium  through  their 
landlords  to  the  police,  it  naturally  follows  that  crimi- 
nals from  other  countries  try  to  evade  this  regulation, 
and  resort  to  possible  devices  for  the  purpose. 

The  police  have  an  ingenious  way  of  running  down 
these  evaders  of  the  law.  The  agents  report  from 
their  several  beats  that  they  have  noticed  some  sus- 
picious-looking persons  about  whom  they  did  not 
know  by  sight.  Note  is  made  of  the  fact  at  the  cen- 
tral bureau,  and  about  the  same  time  information 
comes,  generally  from  Paris  or  Lille,  that  some  noto- 
rious criminals  have  disappeared  from  those  places. 
Thereupon  the  Brussels  police  organize  a  night  hunt 
(it  is  called  a  "rafle"  or  "sweeping  off')  and  in  the 
small  hours  of  the  morning  they  descend  upon  the 
drinking  and  sleeping  places  favored  by  the  thieving 
fraternity,  and  arrest  all  those  whose  papers  are  not 
in  order,  or  who,  in  the  case  of  foreigners,  have  not  a 
"permis  de  sejour."  In  this  way  many  criminals  are 
traced  who  were  not  known  to  be  in  the  country. 


232  BELGIUM 

The  agent  de  police  is  just  as  popular  with  all  law- 
abiding  citizens  in  Belgium  as  the  police  are  with  us, 
and  this  is  the  best  proof  that  he  does  not  abuse  his 
authority.  He  never  thinks  of  interfering  with  the 
respectable  citizen  whom  he  seems  to  appraise  intui- 
tively, but  he  has  the  eyes  of  a  lynx  for  a  member  of 
the  criminal  classes.  I  have  seen  instances  of  this  in 
the  park  at  Brussels,  where  a  great  crowd  assembles 
in  summer  afternoons  to  hear  the  music.  Hundreds 
of  people  will  be  seated  on  the  chairs  under  the  shade 
of  the  trees  behind  which  on  a  raised  terrace  is  the 
bandstand.  A  solitary  agent  walks  up  the  gravel  path 
at  a  fair  pace.  One  would  imagine  his  thoughts  were 
with  his  family  and  not  his  work,  when  suddenly  he 
slackens  his  pace,  looks  fixedly  at  one  of  the  seats, 
and  just  raises  his  little  finger.  A  woman  gets  up 
shamefacedly  and  walks  out  of  the  park.  She  is  a 
well-known  pickpocket,  let  us  say,  but  perhaps  no  one 
else  has  seen  the  occurrence.  The  Brussels  "agent" 
has  a  fine  "flair"  for  his  professional  duty,  and  is  very 
much  to  be  admired  in  his  simple  uniform  of  black 
broadcloth  and  smart  kepi. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


COMMERCE    AND    INDUSTRY 


IN  proportion  to  the  size  of  her  territory  and  the 
number  of  her  people  the  commercial  activity  of 
Belgium  can  only  be  described  as  immense.  But  it  is 
sometimes  classed  greater  than  it  really  is,  owing  to 
the  statistics  on  the  subject  requiring  explanation. 
Belgium,  owing  to  its  geographical  position,  forms 
part  of  the  transport  route  for  goods  to  and  from 
other  countries.  The  transit  charges  benefit  Belgian 
railways,  but  the  articles  conveyed  have  nothing  to 
do  with  either  the  national  resources  or  the  commer- 
cial activity  of  Belgium. 

In  1908  Belgium's  own  exports  amounted  to  about 
$565,400,000,  and  her  imports  to  $501,280,000. 

These  figures  represent  the  true  state  of  Belgian 
commerce,  but  in  addition  it  may  be  stated  that  the 
transit  trade  amounted  to  $404,207,000.  The  three 
largest  contributants  to  the  transit  trade  in  their  order 
of  importance  were  Germany,  France,  and  England. 

Returning  now  to  the  country's  own  proper  trade, 
we  find  that  in  the  matter  of  imports  France  comes 
first,  Germany  second,  and  England  third,  whereas  in 
exports  Germany  takes  the  first  place,  and  France 
only  the  second.     In  imports  the  United  States,  Ar- 

233 


234  BELGIUM 

gentina,  and  Holland  occupy  the  next  places,  the  first 
named  being  not  much  below  this  country.  In  ex- 
ports Holland  stands  fourth,  and  all  the  other  coun- 
tries have  only  low  places. 

The  principal  articles  of  Belgian  trade  in  respect 
of  exports,  confining  the  list  to  those  reaching  a  total 
value  of  not  less  than  five  million  dollars  in  the  year 
1908,  are  the  following: 


(1 

(2 

(3 

(4 

(5 

(6 

(7 

(8 

(9 

(10 

(11 

(12 

(13 

(14 

(15 

(16 

(17 

(18 

(19 


Foods  of  all  kinds,  Vegetables  included $53,009,400 

Iron  and  Steel,  manufactured 29,461,000 

Other  Metals    30,698,800 

Leather  and  Hides 24,651,200 

Cotton,   Linen,    etc 27,468,000 

Engines  and  Machines 38,713,400 

Minerals    (unwrought) 16,238,800 

Raw  material   (textiles) 38,630,000 

Raw   material    (animal) 12,636,400 

Rubber,  raw  and  manufactured 11,047,000 

Arms    5,220,600 

Horses  (26,012  in  number) 5,948,200 

Paper    6,467,000 

Stone  8,127,200 

Chemicals   11,532,200 

Resin  and  bitumen 9,722,800 

Tissues    18,197,000 

Glassware    13,779,000 

Dyes  and  Colors 7,372,500 


The  exports  of  coal  and  coke  from  Belgium  are 
balanced  by  a  slightly  larger  import.  The  exact  fig- 
ures being: 

Exported 

Coal,  4,754,000  tons Value  $16,260,000 

Coke,  917,000  tons "  4,476,200 

Imported 

Coal  (including  briquettes),  5,589,209  tons,  Value  $19,169,600 
Coke,  287,037    "  "         1,400,800 


COMMERCE  AND  INDUSTRY  235 

The  receipts  from  customs  are  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing table: 

Year        1850  1860  1870  1880 

$2,220,800       $3,152,200       $5,712,200       $5,121,600 
1890  1900  1908 

$6,353,200         $10,236,400         $11,465,400 
Up  to  1886  the  receipts  were  on  a  free  trade  tariff ; 

after  that  year  protection  became  the  State  policy. 
Wine  pays  no  import  duty  since  1887.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  subject  to  a  heavy  excise,  part  of  which 
is  attributed  to  the  communal  revenue.  In  1908  the 
excise  brought  in  a  total  sum  of  $22,828,400,  of 
which  amount  $6,135,800  was  handed  over  to  the 
communes,  leaving  $16,692,600  for  the  State.  The 
State,  therefore,  derives  nearly  six  millions  sterling 
from  customs  and  excise,  and  in  addition  there  is 
about  $6,000,000  for  local  expenditure  from  excise. 
The  following  table  shows  the  principal  occupa- 
tions, omitting  agriculture,  mines,  and  metal  factories 
already  treated  of  in  other  chapters,  of  the  popula- 
tion in  1896  which  gives  the  latest  classified  returns: 

Textiles    169,778  persons 

Clothing    137,966 

Building   93,577 

Food   90,443 

Wood,   Furniture,    etc 88,457        " 

Hides  and  Leather 57,702 

Conveyance    41,873        " 

Specialized    industries 24,435        " 

Glass    22,797 

Chemicals    20,715 

Book   trade 14,049 

Tobacco    12,034        " 

Paper    9,448 

China   Ware 28,977 


236  BELGIUM 

The  hours  of  labor  at  these  industries  range  from 

eight  to  twelve  hours  a  day.     The  following  table 

dealing  with  a  total  of  504,304   (410,279  men  and 

94,025   women)    shows — 

Number 
Working     8  hours  per  day 19,138 

8  to    9  "  34,741 

9  to   10  "  172,012 

10  to  10y2  "  77,854 

10J4  to  11  "  88,166 

11  to  11J4  "  70,898 

11J4  to  12  "  30,951 

12  "  10,544 

Total    504,304 

The  bulk  of  the  industrial  population  work,  therefore, 
between  nine  and  twelve  hours  a  day. 

Joint-stock  Companies  in  Belgium  are  regulated 
by  the  law  of  May  18,  1873,  which  was  modified  and 
amplified  by  that  of  May  22,  1886.  In  1908  there  were 
1,365  such  companies,  and  in  1909  the  total  had  in- 
creased to  1,500.  They  are  classified  in  the  follow- 
ing list,  but  the  amount  of  capital  invested  in  them 
is  not  stated: 

Assurances    28 

Banks  and  Finance 87 

Commercial    499 

Industrial    653 

Telephone  and  Electric 24 

Shipping    13 

Light    Railways 1 

Tramways    3 

Transport    24 

Public  Works 66 

Unspecified    102 

1,500 


COMMERCE  AND  INDUSTRY  237 

The  industrial  population  has  a  higher  proportion 
to  the  rest  in  Hainaut  than  in  any  of  the  nine  prov- 
inces, and  stands  lowest  in  Luxemburg  and  Limburg. 
The  totals  in  each  province  and  the  ratio  to  the  whole 
of  the  industrial  class  are  as  follows — those  engaged 
in  the  mines  and  factories  being  included : 

Hainaut    269,300  or  23.83  per  cent 

Liege   190,000  or  16.81 

Brabant    185,200  or  16.39 

East  Flanders   171,000  or  15.13 

West    Flanders 109,500  or    9.69 

Antwerp    109,200  or    9.66 

Namur    55,800  or    4.94 

Luxemburg    20,400  or    1 .82 

Limburg   19,600  or    1.73 

Totals 1,130,000  or  100  per  cent 

The  ^reat  commercial  activity  of  Belgium  is  shown 
by  the  heavy  work  performed  by  the  special  courts- - 
Tribunaux  de  Commerce — dealing  with  such  matters. 
In  1907-08,  the  last  judicial  year  dealt  with,  59,588 
cases  were  entered  for  trial.  Of  these,  31,054  were 
decided  by  the  Courts,  10,981  were  struck  out,  aban- 
doned or  arranged,  and  17,753  were  not  reached. 

There  remains  to  give  some  particulars  of  Bel- 
gium's national  debt.  The  first  loan  was  raised  in 
1832  at  5  per  cent,  and  since  1840  it  has  increased 
from  $51,166,224  to  $687,383,570.  In  addition  to 
this  consolidated  debt  the  State  issues  as  occasion  re- 
quires Treasury  Bonds.  This  floating  debt  amounted 
in  1908  to  $33,902,000.  With  the  exception  of  one 
old  loan,  bearing  only  2^  per  cent  interest,  the  debt 
is  at  the  uniform  rate  of  3  per  cent.     The  total  in- 


238  BELGIUM 

debtedness  of  Belgium  in  1908,  therefore,  was  $721,' 
285,570.  This  would  have  seemed  an  incredible  bur- 
den to  the  Belgians  of  1830  or  even  1860.  The  serv- 
ice of  the  debt,  interest  and  sinking  fund,  required 
$33,376,660  in  1907.  The  main  asset  against  the  debt 
apart  from  the  interests  of  the  State  is  the  railways, 
which  showed  a  profit  to  the  Government  of  forty 
million  francs  or  $8,000,000  in  1907.  The  price  of 
Belgian  Consols  in  1908  ranged  from  92.25  to  96  per 
cent,  averaging  94.  The  2^  per  cent  averaged  80.20. 
Before  the  Socialist  troubles  in  1892  Belgian  Consols 
averaged  101  or  102. 

In  addition  to  the  State  debt  there  is  that  of  the 
Provinces  and  Communes.  In  1908  this  amounted  to 
an  existing  total  of  $7,361,544,  but  between  1830  and 
1880  the  Communes  had  borrowed  $116,282,934.  As 
the  loans  are  for  short  periods  and  are  frequently 
amortized,  the  provincial  debt  is  in  a  continuous  state 
of  flux  and  change.  A  large  part  of  the  debt  went 
in  the  construction  of  schools  after  the  new  Education 
Act  placed  their  control  in  the  hands  of  the  Com- 
munes. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

LITERATURE  AND  JOURNALISM 

IN  one  particular  modern  Belgium  presents  a  strik- 
ing contrast  to  the  mediaeval  States  that  filled  its 
place,  and  the  contrast  is  in  this  instance  based  on 
progress.  The  Flemish  communes  represented  the 
summit  of  industrial  and  financial  success  and  pros- 
perity, but  theirs  was  a  material  and  not  an  intellectual 
triumph.  The  age  of  Van  Artevelde  disclosed  no  lit- 
erary genius.  The  Burgundian  period  was  sterile  in 
the  field  of  letters,  save  for  a  few  chroniclers  who 
wrote  in  French,  like  Froissart  and  Commines,  and 
whose  achievements  in  the  field  of  letters  were  done 
in  Paris  and  not  in  Ghent  or  Brussels.  It  is  true  that 
the  Flemish  Text  Society  unearthed  some  mediaeval 
ballads  in  Flemish,  of  which  no  one  outside  Flanders 
had  ever  heard,  but  these,  however  interesting  and 
suggestive,  could  never  have  been  regarded  as  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  constitute  a  literature.  It  is  also 
the  fact  that  Willems  thought  he  had  discovered  an 
original  Flemish  version  of  the  famous  Renard  le  Fox, 
and  trumpeted  it  abroad  as  a  proof  of  early  Flemish 
literary  genius.  A  little  examination  sufficed  to  show 
that  it  was  nothing  more  than  a  Flemish  translation 
from  the  French. 

239 


240  BELGIUM 

If  the  Flemings  produced  nothing  remarkable  in 
the  way  of  literature  during  their  political  and  indus- 
trial prime,  they  certainly  did  nothing  during  the  three 
dark  centuries  that  preceded  the  French  occupation  to 
establish  a  claim  to  intellectual  pre-eminence.  They 
had  their  schools  of  rhetoric,  in  which  students  were 
incited  to  declaim  some  of  the  old  national  ballads  and 
thus  save  them  from  dying  a  natural  death  by  being 
forgotten.  But  one  fails  to  find  any  evidence  of  even 
literary  interest.  All  the  energy  of  the  race  was  ab- 
sorbed in  the  effort  to  keep  alive  and  not  to  disappear 
from  the  family  of  nations.  It  is  one  of  the  wonders 
of  history  that  a  Belgian  nationality,  retaining  its  two 
component  parts  in  the  Flemish  and  Walloon  commu- 
nities, both  at  least  1,200  years  old,  should  have  sur- 
vived to  emerge  as  a  single  and  stable  State  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  mind  of  the  race  was  op- 
pressed with  the  hard  facts  of  its  position;  it  had  no 
time  to  indulge  in  flights  of  the  imagination.  The 
foreign  yoke  was  so  overwhelming  that  neither  the 
patriot  nor  the  poet  could  raise  himself  to  such  a 
flight  of  fancy  as  to  imagine  deliverance  within  the 
range  of  possibility. 

It  is  consequently  all  the  more  remarkable  that  the 
attainment  of  her  independence  should  have  been  fol- 
lowed in  Belgium  by  one  of  the  most  striking  literary 
revivals  that  Europe  witnessed  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. In  subjection  her  voice  had  not  been  heard,  but 
on  the  morrow  of  her  liberation  she  became  articulate. 


LITERATURE  AND  JOURNALISM  241 

The  first  manifestation  of  literary  genius  came  from 
Flanders.  It  was  no  doubt  evoked  by  the  aspersion 
cast  on  the  Flemish  tongue  by  those  who  assumed  too 
confidently  that  French  would  be  the  language  of  the 
new  State.  Besides,  the  Walloon  section  of  the  nation 
enjoyed  the  possession  of  French  literature,  a  satisfy- 
ing repast  for  the  Belgian  public  before,  in  a  later 
generation,  it  furnished  a  stimulus  to  fresh  and  origi- 
nal exertions  of  their  own. 

Reference  has  been  made  in  the  chapter  on  The 
Two  Races  of  Belgium  to  the  works  of  Henri  Con- 
science and  Ledeganck,  the  Walter  Scott  and  Byron, 
as  they  are  called,  of  Flanders.  These  men  of  genius 
proved  that,  although  Flemish  might  be  in  the  phrase 
of  a  French  writer  "one  of  those  languages  that  have 
had  troubles,"  it  was  still  a  tongue  in  which  the  noblest 
thoughts  of  humanity  could  find  expression.  Lede- 
ganck, although  an  ardent  Fleming,  was  intensely 
national.  He  was  all  for  the  large  Belgium,  which  in- 
cluded the  brother  people.  Conscience  was  more  pro- 
nouncedly Flemish.  He  had  taken  on  his  shoulders 
the  propagandist  role  bequeathed  by  Willems,  but  un- 
der his  direction  Antwerp  superseded  Ghent  as  the 
center  of  the  movement.  Here  Conscience  founded  a 
school  which  not  merely  exists,  but  gives  abundant 
proof  of  activity  today.  Antwerp  even  produced  its 
own  poet  as  a  rival  to  Ledeganck  in  Van  Beers,  who 
may  be  compared  to  Shelley  or  Keats.  Other  leaders 
of  the  Antwerp  school  were  Theodore  Van  Ryswyck 


242  BELGIUM 

(father  of  the  late  burgomaster  of  Antwerp,  who 
was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  of  public  orators),  Pol 
de  Mont  and  the  Sisters  Loveling.  The  last-named 
ladies  were  contemporaries  of  George  Eliot  and  wrote 
somewhat  in  her  style. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  this  literary  ac- 
tivity would  have  exhausted  itself  with  the  first  im- 
pressionist movement,  and  that  the  leaders  would  have 
found  no  successors  capable  of  giving  the  movement 
a  fresh  impetus.  The  national  spirit  that  glorified  the 
deeds  of  the  Flemish  communes  could  not  but  exhaust 
itself  with  the  recitation  of  the  deeds  themselves. 
They  did  not  admit  of  repetition.  The  first  writers 
had  appropriated  and  worked  out  the  subject.  Under 
such  conditions  it  would  not  have  been  surprising  if 
the  Flemish  literary  movement,  after  blazing  up,  had 
burnt  itself  out.  It  was  its  striking  feature  that  it 
experienced  a  second  revival.  What  Conscience  and 
Ledeganck  did  in  the  first  phase,  Maeterlinck  and 
Verhaeren  achieved  in  the  second. 

Maurice  Maeterlinck,  a  student  and  then  a  pro- 
fessor at  Ghent  University,  revealed  himself  to  the 
world  about  twenty-five  years  ago.  He  wrote  in 
Flemish,  and  his  theme  was  not  the  narrow  one  of 
Flemish  aspirations,  but  the  broad  and  limitless  one  of 
human  nature  and  human  passion.  Just  as  the  theme 
was  so  wide,  did  he  find  Flemish  too  narrow  and  con- 
fined as  the  implement  of  his  labor.  He  abandoned 
Flemish  for  French,  and  he  left  Ghent  for  Paris,  thus 


LITERATURE  AND  JOURNALISM  243 

consummating  what  might  be  called  by  his  fellow 
citizens  "the  grand  treason." 

Like  Conscience  and  Ledeganck,  Maeterlinck  had 
his  affinity  and  complement  in  Emile  Verhaeren. 
Twin  stars  shone  together  at  each  epoch  in  the  Flem- 
ish firmament.  Maeterlinck,  as  his  "Douze  Chansons'' 
well  proves,  indulged  his  genius  in  the  play  of  poetry, 
but  was  at  heart  romanticist,  philosopher,  and  mor- 
alist. Verhaeren,  who  condescended  at  times  to  the 
use  of  prose,  was  essentially  poet.  In  him  the  Flem- 
ish landscape,  the  bare  bleak  sea-driven  stretch  of  the 
dunes,  the  mirage-like  fields  of  the  polders,  found 
their  Wordsworth,  with  more  than  Wordsworth's 
force,  and  a  daring  in  word  pictures  where  he  was 
timid.  "Les  campagnes  hallucinees,"  "Les  vagues  des 
dunes,"  "Toute  la  Flandre,"  will  prevent  critics  from 
pronouncing  dull  and  uninteresting  those  lands  of 
Flanders  whose  mystery  he  has  fathomed  and  of  which 
he  offers  the  reader  the  key  in  his  melodious  verse, 
seemingly  produced  without  more  effort  than  a  human 
sigh.  But  Emile  Verhaeren,  too,  appeals  to  the  wider 
public  he  can  reach  through  the  medium  of  the  French 
language.  The  ambition  of  the  individual  in  both 
these  illustrious  cases  has  proved  too  strong  for  the 
separatist  inclinations  of  the  born  Fleming.  In  litera- 
ture it  is  not  true  to  say  that  it  is  more  satisfying  to 
be  king  in  one's  own  village  than  an  ordinary  citizen 
of  Rome. 

If  the  Flemings  provided  what  may  be  called  the 


244  BELGIUM 

first  sensations  in  Belgian  literary  activity,  the  Wal- 
loon movement  which  followed  at  an  interval,  has 
been  scarcely  less  significant  or  meritorious.  The 
Walloon  writers  of  the  three  troubled  periods — the 
Brabant  Revolution  of  1789,  the  transition  period  after 
the  fall  of  the  Empire  in  1814,  and  the  Belgian  Revo- 
lution of  1830-31 — were  among  the  most  prolific  and 
active  pamphleteers  that  have  ever  been  known. 
"Shoot  me  some  of  those  pamphleteers,"  exclaimed 
an  irritated  Austrian  Minister  in  1789,  and  it  would 
be  difficult  to  discover  a  publicist  who  did  more  in 
preparing  a  revolution  with  the  pen  than  Louis  de 
Potter  before  1830.  The  pamphleteer  is  only  the  his- 
torian in  embryo  whose  mission  will  not  allow  of  his 
waiting  to  write  in  extenso.  It  was,  therefore,  only 
natural  that  the  establishment  of  peace  should  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  marked  development  of  historical  study, 
elucidation  and  description.  There  was  a  natural  ex- 
planation for  this.  Belgium  had  just  been  born,  but 
although  a  new  kingdom,  it  was  an  old  country,  and 
history  had  to  be  searched  and  described  to  explain 
the  tardiness  of  its  birth.  It  was  under  these  circum- 
stances that  Gachard,  Schayes,  T.  Juste,  Kervyn  de 
Lettenhove,  Villenfagne,  and  others  too  numerous  to 
name,  explored  the  recesses  of  Belgian  history,  and 
set  forth  the  sad  national  experiences  of  the  hardest 
treated  race  in  Western  Europe.  Vanderkindere,  one 
of  the  latest  and  the  ablest  of  these  searchers  after 
truth,  has  informed  his  countrymen  in  a  bitter  sen- 


LITERATURE  AND  JOURNALISM  245 

tence  that  they  could  not  expect  to  come  back  from 
those  wanderings  in  subterranean  regions  without 
some  of  their  plumage  being  burnt,  and  something  of 
their  pristine  virtue  left  behind. 

If  Flemish  writers  produced  the  romance  and 
poetry  of  the  nation,  it  was  the  French-speaking  com- 
munity that  provided  the  historians,  the  political  writ- 
ers, and  the  scientists.  They  were  a  band  of  highly 
meritorious  scholars  and  Teachers,  although  none 
reached  the  higher  level  of  genius.  They  had  none 
of  the  stimulus  provided  by  a  definite  mission  of 
political  or  racial  propaganda.  Their  principal  object 
was  to  unearth  historical  documents,  to  group  them 
in  a  harmonious  whole,  so  as  to  convince  the  world 
that  Belgium  had  existed  with  an  almost  unbroken 
thread  of  national  life  from  the  olden  time.  Their 
subject  alone  was  interesting  in  their  eyes.  It  never 
occurred  to  them  that  there  was  need  to  establish 
the  superiority  of  prose  set  down  in  French  to  that 
expressed  in  Flemish,  or  to  prove  the  greater  fertility 
of  Walloon  intellect  to  that  of  the  men  of  Flanders. 
The  idea  of  comparison,  competition,  and  contrast 
never  entered  their  minds. 

But  the  Flemish  movement  had  always  been  ag- 
gressive in  its  character,  and  it  was  scarcely  surprising 
that  the  productions  of  several  men  whose  real  genius 
could  not  be  challenged  in  any  assembly  of  intellect, 
should  have  imparted  some  measure  of  arrogance  to 
the  Flemish  attitude  towards  the  other  race  in  the 


246  BELGIUM 

Union.  It  became  a  favorite  phrase  in  the  Flemish 
papers  to  declare  that  the  Walloon  intellect  was  sterile, 
and  that  it  was  satisfied  to  let  France  provide  it  with 
such  literature  as  it  might  require.  The  Flemish 
attitude  was  provocative  and  a  challenge.  It  gave  rise 
to  the  Walloon  movement  which,  in  its  way,  has 
proved  as  remarkable  as  the  Flemish,  and  may  still 
be  regarded  as  in  the  full  swing  of  its  vigor. 

The  Walloon  movement  has  been  double-winged. 
There  has  been  a  general  effort,  and  it  is  still  in 
progress,  to  preserve  and  revive  the  Walloon  tongue, 
which  is  as  old  as  the  flemish,  and  which  was  in  use 
at  the  Court  of  Pepin  and  probably  of  Charlemagne. 
The  other  side  of  the  movement  has  been  to  enrich 
French  literature  by  the  great  achievements  of  more 
than  a  few  Walloon  writers.  Liege,  the  capital  of 
Walloonia,  took  the  lead  in  this  movement  just  as  nat- 
urally as  Ghent  and  Antwerp  had  done  in  regard  to 
the  Flemish.  Defrecheux  and  Vrindts  supplied  the 
Walloons  with  the  popular  ballads  that  the  Flemings 
found  in  Ledeganck  and  Van  Beers.  More  even  than 
their  Flemish  colleagues  are  these  singers  the  poets 
of  the  people.  The  poems  of  Vrindts,  for  instance, 
give  in  epitome  the  life  of  the  stout  Walloon  race 
which  has  preserved  its  national  characteristics  amid 
the  rivalry  of  the  Empires  by  which  Liege  was  sur- 
rounded. 

While  the  movement  at  Liege  remained  pre- 
eminently   and    distinctively    Walloon,    the     second 


LITERATURE  AND  JOURNALISM  247 

branch  of  the  reaction  against  Flemish  arrogance  and 
aggression  concentrated  its  forces  in  Brussels.  The 
Belgian  capital  became  the  center  of  the  revival  of 
national  literature,  expressed  in  the  French  tongue. 
The  movement  cannot  be  traced  here  in  all  its  details. 
The  first  writers  like  Van  Hasselt  were  swayed  by  the 
influence  of  Victor  Hugo.  The  second  and  more  nu- 
merous group,  of  which  Camille  Lemonnier,  Georges 
Rodenbach,  and  Edmond  Picard  were  the  bright  and 
particular  stars,  were  largely  influenced  by  the  natu- 
ralistic tendencies  of  the  modern  French  school. 
Poets  such  as  Giraud,  Gilkin,  Mockel,  and  Severin 
have  proved  that  the  Belgian  mind  can  soar  to  the 
heights  of  Parnassus,  while  M.  Chainaye,  a  strenuous 
fighter  against  the  aggressions  of  the  "Mouvement 
Flammingant,"  has  gone  to  the  root  of  things  in  his 
"L'Ame  des  Choses."  M.  Maurice  Wilmotte,  less 
partisan  than  Chainaye,  has  taken  his  place  as  a  leader 
of  the  French  movement  by  his  captivating  sketch  of 
the  moral  and  political  aspects  of  independent  Bel- 
gium. 

Of  all  these  writers,  however,  one  alone,  it  may  be 
admitted,  has  passed  the  final  test  of  literary  fame,  the 
acquisition  of  a  European  reputation,  Camille  Lemon- 
nier. He  is  one  of  the  finest  stylists  in  any  language, 
and  his  prose  reads  with  the  lilt  of  a  song.  For  that 
reason  translations  of  his  best  works  are  impossible. 
Those  that  have  been  attempted  read  harsh,  and  his 
metaphors  defy  transference  to  another  scene.     This 


248  BELGIUM 

is  especially  the  case  in  his  description  of  the  Borinage 
and  in  his  great  novel  "Le  Male."  The  brutalities  and 
coarseness  of  industrial  life  have  never  been  brought 
out  with  a  bolder  hand,  while  behind  them  are  por- 
trayed the  blurred  features  of  our  common  humanity. 
Walloon  as  he  is,  Lemonnier  has  done  full  justice  to 
Flanders  in  his  "Contes  Flamandes"  and  his  monu- 
mental sketch  of  "La  Belgique,"  which  developed  out 
of  his  contributions  to  Le  Monde  Illnstre.  Enough 
has  been  done  by  this  chosen  band  of  "Young  Bel- 
gium" to  show  that  there  is  no  truth  in  the  Flemish 
aspersion  as  to  the  sterility  of  Walloon  intellect;  and 
it  may  even  be  predicted  that  the  French  revival  in 
Belgium,  having  a  wider  audience,  is  likely  to  prove 
more  enduring  than  the  Flemish.  Some  proof  of  this 
might  be  found  in  the  abandoning  of  Flemish  for 
French  by  the  two  leading  writers  of  Flanders. 

Belgium  possesses  a  very  active  and  influential 
press.  The  papers  published  at  Antwerp  and  Ghent 
are  printed  in  Flemish,  and  those  in  Brussels,  Liege, 
and  Louvain  in  French.  Of  course,  there  are  a  few 
French  papers  in  Flanders  and  a  few  Flemish  in 
Brussels,  but  the  rule  is  as  mentioned.  The  principal 
role  of  each  paper  is  to  advocate  the  cause  of  the 
political  party  to  which  it  adheres,  and  the  original 
matter  is  confined  to  political  propaganda.  Political 
views  in  Belgium  are  extreme — there  is  no  Central 
Party — and  the  press  does  not  lag  behind  the  dema- 
gogue in  giving  the  freest  vent  to  vituperation  of  the 


LITERATURE  AND  JOURNALISM  249 

adversary.  The  rival  party  is  denounced  as  devoid  of 
all  virtue,  and  as  no  moderation  is  expected  from  the 
other  side,  it  is  deemed  weak  to  display  it  oneself. 
When  the  Belgian  journalist  becomes  tired  of  attack- 
ing his  own  countrymen,  he  relieves  his  feelings  by 
criticizing  the  people  of  other  countries.  The  Second 
Empire  was  one  of  its  favorite  butts,  so  was  England 
during  the  South  African  War.  But  during  the  last 
two  years  there  has  been  evidence  of  greater  restraint. 
The  general  European  situation  has  inspired  anxiety, 
and  Belgian  publicists  have  displayed  a  proper  sense 
of  their  higher  duties  and  responsibilities. 

In  Brussels  there  are  several  excellent  dailies. 
The  Independance  Beige,  the  Journal  de  Bruxelles, 
and  the  Etoile  Beige  are  all  first-class  papers  to  which 
able  writers  contribute.  They  also  receive  official  in- 
formation, and  endeavor  to  instruct  their  readers  as 
well  as  to  promote  the  cause  of  the  political  party  to 
which  they  are  attached.  M.  Roland  de  Mares  of  the 
Independance  is  a  publicist  of  European  reputation. 
Among  specialist  papers  the  military  weekly,  La  Bel- 
gique  Militaire,  takes  a  foremost  place.  Under  the 
able  editorship  of  M.  Leon  Chome,  it  rr  j  advocated 
the  cause  of  army  reform  during  the  last  thirty  years, 
and  is  entitled  to  much  of  the  credit  for  the  changes 
brought  about  in  the  system  of  army  recruitment. 

The  periodical  press  is  of  a  somewhat  spasmodic 
character.  An  incident  or  the  commencement  of  a 
commercial  movement  will  be  heralded  by  the  produc- 


250  BELGIUM 

tion  of  an  illustrated  journal  or  magazine,  and  for  a 
time  a  very  interesting  periodical  appears.  The  in- 
cident passes  off,  the  movement  fizzles  out,  whereupon 
the  publication  is  dropped.  Such  was  the  case  of  La 
Chine  et  Sibcrie  a  few  years  back.  The  Congolese 
publications  have  also  diminished  in  number.  Among 
all  the  periodicals  the  most  valuable  is  the  Journal  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  Belgium.  In  this  have  appeared 
the  best  works  of  historical  writers  like  Gachard, 
Pirenne,  Borchgrave,  etc. 

Closely  connected  with  literature  and  journalism 
is  the  literary  club.  In  Brussels  there  is  a  rather  ex- 
clusive club  located  in  the  Park  (near  Vauxhall), 
known  as  the  "Cercle  Artistique  et  Litteraire,"  but 
beyond  allowing  an  occasional  conference  or  exhibi- 
tion of  pictures  in  its  rooms  it  does  not  take  a  very 
active  part  in  promoting  either  the  status  or  the  in- 
terests of  literature.  The  Cercle  Africain,  held  at  the 
picturesque  Hotel  Ravenstein,  is  nominally  intended 
for  the  use  of  those  who  have  served  in  Africa,  but 
it  has  a  literary  side  also,  and  is  the  center  of  the 
propagandist  movement  in  Colonel  matters  which 
finds  expression  in  the  Congo  Illustre.  As  a  rule, 
however,  cercles  or  clubs  meet  at  their  chosen  restau- 
rant, and  in  this  sense  there  is  scarcely  a  town  in 
Belgium  without  its  little  society.  It  would  be  more 
correct  to  say  that  each  town  has  two  rival  "cercles," 
the  Catholic  and  the  Liberal,  thus  reflecting  in  social 
life  the  political  divisions  of  the  State. 


CHAPTER  XX 

MUSIC,  ART,  AND  THE  DRAMA 

WHATEVER  else  he  may  be  or  may  not  be,  the 
Belgian  is  intensely  fond  of  music.  Concerts 
are  the  most  popular  form  of  entertainment.  There 
is  not  a  commune  that  does  not  keep  up  a  band  or 
rather  two,  for  there  are  pretty  certain  to  be  rival 
Catholic  and  Liberal  bands  wherever  one  goes,  and  in 
no  other  country  are  greater  facilities  provided  by  the 
Government  for  those  desirous  of  studying  vocal  or 
instrumental  music  in  any  form.  There  seems  to  be 
an  average  of  not  fewer  than  20,000  permanent  stu- 
dents passing  through  the  conservatories  at  any  given 
time.  State  help  is  given  to  these  institutions  because 
public  opinion  demands  it,  and  not  with  the  object  of 
spreading  a  love  of  music.  The  love  of  music  is  a 
national  trait.  The  Government  is,  therefore,  expected 
to  provide  those  who  wish  to  earn  their  living  by  the 
profession  with  the  suitable  means  and  facilities  of 
becoming  experts  and  virtuosi. 

The  four  royal  conservatories  are  situated  in  Brus- 
sels, Antwerp,  Ghent,  and  Liege.  Each  institution 
is  divided  into  classes  covering  the  whole  range  of 
harmony,  and  at  Antwerp  and  Ghent  there  are  sepa- 
rate classes  for  French  and  Flemish  declamation.  The 

251 


252  BELGIUM 

following  table  shows  the  total  of  inscribed  students 
at  each  of  these  institutions  in  1908: 

Name  Male  Students       Female  Students  Total 

Antwerp   949  978  1,927 

Brussels    481  405  886 

Ghent    580  601  1,181 

Lie'ge   742  461  1,203 

Grand    Total 5,197 

In  addition  to  the  four  royal  conservatories  there 
are  sixty-five  other  conservatories  and  schools  of 
music  in  the  country.  Of  these  fifty-six  are  in 
Hainaut,  Brabant,  and  Flanders.  The  total  of  in- 
scribed students  was  14,115  (7,033  males  and  7,082 
females).  Among  the  famous  musicians  turned  out 
by  the  Belgian  schools  of  music  may  be  named  Cesar 
Franck  and  Ysaye,  whose  reputations  are  European. 
The  chief  merit  lies,  however,  in  turning  out  annually 
a  large  number  of  qualified  musicians  of  all  kinds 
whose  influence  on  the  life  of  the  country  and  the 
character  of  its  people  is  not  inconsiderable. 

The  opera  is  very  popular  in  Brussels,  and  has  a 
particularly  long  season  at  the  Theatre  de  la  Monnaie. 
During  the  three  months  that  the  opera  house  is 
closed  the  orchestra  plays  in  the  open  air  every  eve- 
ning at  Vauxhall,  in  the  Bois,  except  when  it  rains. 
The  conductors  are  doctors  of  music  who  have  quali- 
fied at  one  of  the  royal  conservatories,  and  the  or- 
chestra is  now  recruited  exclusively  from  the  national 
schools  of  music.  There  are  fine  concert  halls  in  Brus- 
sels besides  the  hall  of  the  Conservatoire,  which  is  sit- 


MUSIC,  ART,  AND  THE  DRAMA  253 

uated  in  the  rue  de  la  Regence.  One  of  these  is  in  the 
room  called  La  Grande  Harmonie,  at  the  top  of  the 
rue  de  la  Madeleine.  Great  interest  is  taken  in  the 
competition  among  the  students  of  the  Conservatoires, 
but  on  these  occasions  only  the  parents  or  other  near 
relatives  to  the  number  of  two  apiece  are  allowed  to 
be  present  to  hear  the  concours  at  which  the  relative 
merit  of  the  student  is  announced.  At  the  repetition, 
however,  it  is  possible  for  outsiders  to  be  present, 
and  the  search  for  new  talent  is  not  the  least  practical 
errand  of  the  visitors  who  include  many  impresarios. 
Great  pride  is  taken  in  organizing  the  communal 
bands  which  are  composed  of  trained  musicians.  They 
are  called  out  to  attend  the  funeral  of  any  prominent 
resident,  and  in  the  smaller  communes  any  funeral, 
provided  the  deceased  belonged  to  the  right  political 
party.  They  thus  acquire  special  skill  and  harmony  in 
Handel's  or  Chopin's  funeral  march.  On  fete  days 
and  national  holidays  they  play  popular  music  in  the 
principal  square  or  "Grand  Place,"  winding  up  with 
the  national  anthem  of  La  Brabanconne.  The  military 
bands  are  also  first  rate,  especially  those  of  the  two 
Guide  Cavalry  regiments,  which  are  always  quartered 
in  Brussels.  One  of  these  bands  plays  in  the  park 
every  afternoon  during  the  summer.  The  city  band 
of  Brussels  also  plays  there,  and  throughout  the 
country  similar  arrangements  are  carried  out  in  all  the 
garrison  towns.  Whatever  shortcomings  he  may  note, 
the  visitor  to  Brussels  and  Belgium  will  have  no  rea- 


254  BELGIUM 

son  to  complain  of  a  lack  of  good  music.  The  au- 
dience at  the  Monnaie,  while  retaining  their  right  to 
criticism  are  particularly  susceptible  to  the  claims  of 
new-comers  of  evident  talent,  and  many  a  famous 
prima  donna  dates  her  first  European  success  from 
the  acclamations  of  a  Belgian  audience  in  their  his- 
toric theater.  The  Belgian  revolution  of  1830  origi- 
nated with  the  ebullition  of  popular  enthusiasm 
aroused  by  Massanniello's  famous  song  invocating  the 
spirit  of  patriotism. 

Art  not  less  than  music  enjoys  official  support. 
The  principal  institution  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
Fine  Arts  finds  its  home  naturally  enough  at  Antwerp 
associated  with  the  memories  of  Rubens  and  Vandyke. 
This  is  styled  the  Royal  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  and 
dates  from  the  year  1850.  All  the  well-known  artists 
of  Belgium  in  the  last  half-century  have  passed 
through  this  Academy,  and  many  others  as  well  who 
have  not  followed  their  profession  in  Belgium. 
Among  the  latter  the  most  distinguished  is  the  great 
Belgian  artist,  Sir  L.  Alma-Tadema.  So  far  as  mere 
numbers  go  the  institution  reached  its  prime  in  1880, 
when  there  were  as  many  as  1,692  students  as  com- 
pared with  941  in  1908.  The  decline  seems  the  more 
considerable  when  it  is  stated  that  female  students 
were  admitted  for  the  first  time  in  1890. 

Besides  the  Royal  Academy  at  Antwerp  there  were 
eighty-six  drawing  academies  and  schools  in  the  king- 
dom attended  by  16,137  students  of  both  sexes.    Many 


MUSIC,  ART,  AND  THE  DRAMA  255 

of  these  students  are  trained  as  architects,  gilders,  en- 
gravers, etc.,  as  well  as  those  who  enter  the  courses 
of  drawing  and  painting.  There  was  even  a  class  of 
naval  architects  at  Antwerp,  but  this  was  given  up  in 
1885.  So  far  as  the  different  fine  art  exhibitions  al- 
low of  an  opinion  to  be  formed  from  the  total  num- 
bers of  exhibitors  there  were  about  600  painters  of  the 
male  sex  and  100  of  the  female  actively  practicing 
their  profession  as  artist-painters  in  1903.     * 

The  modern  school  in  Belgium,  dating  from  1835, 
was  chiefly  historical.  Impressed  by  the  events  of  the 
period  of  liberation,  the  artists  found  their  inspiration 
in  the  incidents  of  Netherlands'  history  Biefve, 
Gallait,  DeKeyser  were  the  leaders  in  the  revival  of 
Belgian  art,  and  their  historical  works  are  to  be  found 
on  the  walls  of  the  Museum  of  Modern  Art  in  Brus- 
sels. But  the  interest  of  such  works  soon  passed  off, 
and  for  a  time  Belgian  art  languished  or  waned  in 
the  choice  of  a  new  bent.  After  some  uncertainty  a 
new  school  of  landscape  painters,  racy  of  the  soil,  has 
come  into  existence,  making  present-day  Belgian  art 
a  real  and  living  fact.  Instead  of  our  own  it  will  be 
best  to  give  M.  Edmond  Picard's  views  on  the  de^_ 
velopment  of  modem  Belgian  arr^  They  are  set  forth 
in  the  following  passage  which  is  taken  from  one  of 
his  lively  causeries  on  "the  artistic  psychology  of 
Belgium."  We  may  only  pretend  to  give  M.  Picard's 
sense  and  not  his  style,  which  baffles  the  translator's 
efforts : 


256  BELGIUM 

"In  order  to  be  the  artist,  to  transform  one's  im- 
pressions into  the  beautiful,  it  is  necessary  before 
everything  to  be  true  to  one's  own  home  and  sur- 
roundings ;  art  must  be  impregnated  with  national 
thought,  ambition,  and  tendencies.  At  the  beginning 
of  our  history  Belgium  had  no  national  soul,  because 
the  sense  of  a  nationality  did  not  exist.  Across  that 
land  of  mist,  where  each  knew  not  his  neighbor  unless 
it  was  to  combat  him,  there  bloomed  no  flower  of 
idealism.  While  in  the  Greek  and  Roman  civilizations 
gods  walked  on  earth,  while  Paganism  gave  free  vent 
to  its  streams  of  eternal  beauty,  with  us  all  was  void. 
The  night,  during  which  intellect  with  us  slept,  began 
to  break  about  the  year  1000,  when  in  churches  and 
monasteries  the  aesthetic  awakening  was  revealed  by 
barbarous  and  coarse  decoration  and  constructive  work 
which  were  still  expressive  of  the  Roman  art.  Out 
of  this  sprang  Gothic  art  which  in  emotional  force,  if 
not  in  the  power  of  its  harmonious  beauty,  surpassed 
Greek  art  itself.  With  the  House  of  Burgundy  ap- 
peared the  first  form  of  national  unity,  thus  really  cre- 
ating Belgium,  and  thenceforth  national  sentiment 
found  its  noblest  expression  in  an  independent  and 
original  art.  The  national  soul  is  manifested  with  strik- 
ing intensity  in  the  works  of  Memling  and  Van  Eyck, 
in  which  may  be  found  across  the  centuries  the  same 
characteristics  as  are  observable  in  our  art  today — the 
love  of  the  picturesque,  the  research  in  detail,  the  de- 
sire to  provoke  emotion.  After  the  House  of  Burgundy 
came  the  eclipse  of  our  individuality,  and  with  it  of 
our  art — the  eclipse  lasted  during  nearly  three  cen- 
turies. It  may  be  objected  that  the  reign  of  Albert 
and  Isabella  saw  the  striking  genius  of  Rubens.  But 
Rubens  was  not  Belgian.  He  was  one  of  those  super- 
natural men  like  Shakespeare  and  Micheal  Angelo, 
who,  when  they  disappear,  leave  all  in  darkness  after 
them.     And  then  we  arrive  at  the  day  of  our  inde- 


MUSIC,  ART,  AND  THE  DRAMA  257 

pendence.  At  first  our  artists  seek  to  follow  in  the 
track  of  Rubens,  and  we  get  the  mediocre  productions 
of  de  Keyser  and  Slingeneyer.  But  other  artists  rose 
with  the  courage  to  look  about  them.  It  is  in  land- 
scape, in  the  representation  of  the  native  soil  that  the 
renaissance  begins;  Artan,  Boulenger,  Baron  and  a 
crowd  of  others  who  scatter  over  their  works  the  light 
whose  marvelous  beauty  they  have  appreciated.  Then 
came  that  great  artist  Constantin  Meunier,  whom  we 
may  describe  as  of  the  school  of  Quentin  Metsys, 
Laermans  who  may  be  compared  to  Breughel,  Alfred 
Stevens  and  De  Groux  to  Vermeer  and  Snyders.  All 
these  have  created  for  us  a  new,  striking  and  vigorous 
art  because  they  realized  that  it  must  be  not  merely 
beautiful,  but  true  to  our  national  and  familiar  life." 

Modern  Belgium  can  boast  of  having  produced 
some  very  fine  sculptors,  among  the  principal  being 
Eugeen  Simonis,  the  brothers  Geefs,  Jehoth,  Fraikin, 
and  more  recently  Jacques  de  Lalaing.  The  finest 
product  of  the  art  of  a  Belgian  sculptor  is  undoubtedly 
the  colossal  equestrian  statue  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon, 
which  occupies  the  center  of  the  Place  Royale.  The 
British  Waterloo  monument  in  the  Evere  cemetery 
may  be  mentioned  as  an  original  piece  of  work  due 
to  the  talent  of  Count  J.  de  Lalaing. 

There  is  no  national  theater  in  Belgium  as  in 
France,  and  up  to  the  present  time  no  special  training- 
school  for  the  stage  has  been  established.  The  utmost 
that  has  been  done  in  any  form  of  State,  and  that 
under  the  pressure  of  the  Flemish  party,  has  been  the 
building  of  special  theaters  for  Flemish  plays  at  Ant- 
werp, Ghent,  and  Brussels.    After  the  Monnaie,  which 


258  BELGIUM 

has  been  referred  to  as  the  house  for  opera,  the 
principal  theaters  in  Brussels  are  the  Pare,  the  Mo- 
liere,  the  Galleries,  and  the  Alhambra.  The  most 
fashionable  of  them  is  the  Pare,  where  it  is  usual  to 
give  the  latest  success  from  Paris  with  French  actors 
and  actresses.  Classical  plays  are  given  from  time  to 
time,  and  matinees  of  plays  to  which  young  ladies 
can  be  taken  have  recently  become  the  vogue. 

If  the  Pare  is  the  playhouse  for  society,  the  Mo* 
Here,  which  is  also  a  house  for  French  plays,  appeals 
to  a  more  general  public.  The  theaters  in  the  lower 
town  go  in  for  light  comedy,  operetta,  and  burlesque. 
Their  greatest  successes  are  scored  when  they  put  on 
the  boards  a  "risky"  piece  like  "La  Dame  de  chez 
Maxim."  Its  success  was  phenomenal,  not  greater, 
however,  than  that  of  the  drama  "Cyrano  de  Ber- 
gerac."  If  there  is  a  national  school  of  actors  in  the 
French  tongue,  it  is  still  largely  in  the  making,  and 
the  Belgian  stage  must  be  described  as  cosmopolitan 
with  a  majority  of  the  performers  claiming  French 
birth. 

It  is,  of  course,  different  with  the  Flemish  thea- 
ters, where  the  company  is  necessarily  exclusively 
Belgian.  But  the  Flemish  theaters  can  boast  of  no 
large  repertoire,  and  the  heroic  popular  play  of 
"Uylenspiegel"  was  written  originally  in  French  by 
its  author,  Charles  de  Coster.  It  is,  however,  a  sure 
draw  with  the  Flemings,  for  it  deals  with  the  heroic 
period  of  the  communes,  and  is  frequently  put  on  the 


MUSIC,  ART,  AND  THE  DRAMA  259 

stage.  As  a  drama  it  somewhat  resembles  the  "Dead 
Heart,"  but  the  most  remarkable  point  about  it  is  the 
opportunity  it  affords  of  studying  a  Flemish  audience. 
The  royal  theater  at  Antwerp  is  used  as  both  an  opera 
house  and  for  plays,  but  here  the  language  used  is 
French.  It  resembles  the  Monnaie  with  the  exception 
that  its  season  is  shorter — September  to  April — and 
that  it  only  opens  its  doors  on  certain  days  in  the 
week.  The  most  fashionable  audience  collects  for  the 
Sunday  matinees.  The  Antwerp  citizens  are  more 
staid  than  those  of  Brussels,  and  their  dramatic  fare 
has  to  be  selected  accordingly.  The  Flemish  Theater, 
known  as  the  Schouwburg,  may  be  described  as  the 
home  of  Flemish  drama,  and  sometimes  Flemish  trans- 
lations of  Shakespeare's  plays  are  put  on  the  stage. 
At  Ghent  there  is  another  Flemish  Theater  also  called 
the  Schouwburg,  which  resembles  in  character  those 
already  described.  Near  it  is  the  French  theater,  but 
its  season  is  short  and,  as  a  rule,  it  only  opens  its 
doors  twice  or  thrice  a  week. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

KERMESSES,    FETES,    AND    LEGENDS 

THE  first  buildings  of  any  permanent  construction 
in  Belgium  were  churches,  or  in  the  Flemish 
tongue,  "kerks" ;  round  these  clustered  the  wattle  huts 
of  the  people.  When  trade  commenced  to  occupy  the 
time  and  attention  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  mar- 
kets, or  "messes"  were  held  under  the  church's  shadow 
and  protection.  The  church  and  the  market-place  sup- 
ply the  origin  of  the  compound  name  of  "kermesse," 
which  has  come  to  mean  in  the  course  of  centuries,  a 
fair.  The  Flemings  were  given  to  pollity,  and  they 
enjoyed  themselves  in  the  days  of  their  prosperity 
with  high  living,  somewhat  boisterous  games,  and 
"all  the  fun  of  the  fair."  Nor  have  they  changed,  as 
any  one  may  discover  by  a  visit  during  the  Carnival, 
more  especially  to  Binche  on  Shrove-Tuesday.  Ker- 
messe is  essentially  a  Flemish  institution,  and  is  not 
to  be  met  outside  of  the  Flemish-speaking  provinces 
which  includes  Brabant.  In  the  Walloon  part  of  the 
country,  where  "free-thought"  and  unbelief  are  al- 
leged to  have  made  great  progress,  all  the  popular 
fetes  have  a  religious  basis,  and  are  immune  from  the 
noisy  licence  that  seems  to  characterize  the  kermesse. 
In  Brussels  no  one  would  discover  any  difference 

260 


KERMESSES,  FETES,  AND  LEGENDS        261 

between  a  kermesse  and  an  English  country  fair,  and 
the  only  matter  that  appears  strange  is  that  a  great 
city  should  see  in  its  midst  the  celebration  of  a  coun- 
try fair  with  booths,  merry-go-rounds,  menageries, 
and  stalls  for  the  display  of  much  tinsel  and  gawds. 
As  each  commune  of  Brussels  holds  its  own  kermesse, 
and  a  fair  generally  lasts  a  week,  the  air  seems  to  be 
impregnated  for  a  good  portion  of  the  summer  with 
their  influence,  and  if  one's  domestic  returns  home 
late  or  not  at  all,  the  cause  is  alleged  to  have  been  the 
kermesse.  The  fairs  are  held  in  some  open  place  like 
the  Boulevard  Jamar,  near  the  "gare  du  Midi,"  so  as 
to  interfere  as  little  as  possible  with  the  general  traffic. 
The  kermesse  fete  of  the  city  of  Brussels  concen- 
trates its  effect  on  a  procession  through  the  streets 
and  boulevards  of  the  lower  town  to  the  Grand  Place. 
The  famous  statuette  known  as  the  Mannikin  Pis 
is  taken  down  from  its  pedestal,  dressed  up  in  a  fancy 
costume  as  a  Gard  Civique,  and  paraded  in  triumph. 
Gigantic  figures  of  Gog  and  Magog  follow  in  the  cor- 
tege at  a  respectful  distance,  but  all  the  honors  of  the 
day  are  reserved  for  the  Mannikin,  who  has  been  called 
"the  oldest  citizen  of  Brussels."  This  statue,  the  work 
of  Duquesnoy,  dates  from  1619,  and  is  said  to  be  only 
a  freak  of  its  author.  The  uniform  in  which  it  has 
always  been  dressed  for  the  fete  has  changed  with 
each  form  of  government,  and  its  wardrobe  now  num- 
bers eight  separate  costumes,  the  person  who  has 
charge  of  them  receiving  a  salary  of  $40  a  year. 


262  BELGIUM 

The  most  characteristic  of  all  the  kermesses  is  that 
celebrated  every  year  at  Binche  on  Shrove-Tuesday. 
It  has  more  of  the  spirit  of  the  old  kermesse  and  less 
of  the  modern  fair  than  perhaps  any  other  still  held 
in  Belgium.  Binche  is  a  small  town  of  Hainaut  with 
a  population  of  about  12,000  people,  situated  about 
half-way  between  Mons  and  Charleroi.  As  it  is  situ- 
ated on  a  branch  line,  it  is  seldom  visited  by  the  Eng- 
lish tourist.  The  fetes  of  Shrove-Tuesday  are  said  to 
have  originated  with  Mary  of  Burgundy,  who  cele- 
brated them  for  the  first  time  in  the  year  1477,  on  the 
occasion  of  her  establishing  a  hunting  seat  in  the 
neighborhood.  They  have  consequently  been  held  for 
433  years.  Additions  were  made  under  her  succes- 
ors,  notably  the  regents  Margaret  of  Austria  and 
Mary  of  Hungary;  but  the  fundamental  idea  of  the 
fete,  viz.,  disguise,  was  supplied  by  the  young 
Duchess,  who,  it  may  be  supposed,  proposed  it  as  the 
only  way  in  which  she  could  take  part  in  it.  The 
consequence  is  that  no  one  may  appear  in  their  ordi- 
nary clothes  on  this  occasion.  The  ;'cung  men  and 
women  of  the  place  appear  as  Pierrots  and  Pierrettes, 
while  a  special  band  figures  as  "Gilles."  The  precise 
origin  of  this  name  is  obscure;  by  some  it  is  consid- 
ered a  reference  to  St.  George,  and  by  others  a  term 
for  a  silly  fellow.  But  in  any  case  the  Gilles  of 
Binche  are  a  select  society,  and  apparently  member- 
ship is  hereditary.     The  costumes  are  valuable,  and 


KERMESSES,  FETES,  AND  LEGENDS        263 

include  a  plumed  hat  which  is  estimated  to  cost  not 
less  than  twenty  pounds. 

The  participants  in  the  fray  that  follows,  for  the 
feature  of  the  affair  is  the  pelting  of  onlookers  at  the 
windows  or  balconies  with  oranges  instead  of  con- 
fetti, are  not  merely  disguised,  but  generally  put  on 
false  noses  and  hunchbacks.  The  Gilles  Society  has 
its  own  band,  which  plays  its  own  special  music,  and 
the  mad  dances  of  the  Gilles  and  the  Pierrots  down 
the  long  high  street  to  the  gardens  where  the  Carnival 
ball  takes  place,  savors  of  pandemonium.  All  the  time 
the  dancers  are  pelting  the  windows  and  people  in 
them  with  the  oranges  carried  in  straw  baskets.  It  is 
not  etiquette  to  pelt  any  one  in  the  streets,  but  those 
in  the  houses  are  considered  fair  game.  At  Binche 
one  sees  the  kermesse  pure  and  simple  combined  with 
the  orgy  of  the  Carnival,  but  free  of  all  the  acces- 
sories of  the  fair.  It  is  usual  for  as  many  as  twenty 
thousand  visitors  to  come  into  the  place  from  the 
neighboring  towns  of  Hainaut  and  France,  but  pru- 
dent residents  close  all  their  shutters,  and  take  their 
chance  with  the  crowd  in  the  streets.  The  festivities 
begin  on  the  Monday  evening  and  do  not  terminate  till 
the  sun  is  up  on  the  Wednesday  morning. 

The  nearest  approach  to  what  may  be  called  the 
wild  kermesse  at  Binche  is  the  parade  of  Lumecon, 
which  takes  place  at  Mons  on  Trinity  Sunday.  These 
fetes  are  familiarly  known  as  those  of  "doudou,"  but 
no  one  can  give  any  better  reason  for  the  name  than 


264  BELGIUM 

that  it  rhymes  with  "chou,  chou,"  the  familiar  term 
for  driving  or  chasing  something  or  somebody  which 
is  used  as  the  cry  of  those  marching  in  the  procession. 
Lumecon  is  the  Walloon  of  the  French  word  limagon 
(a  snail),  but  the  snail  of  Mons  is  a  dragon  which  is 
carried  at  the  head  of  the  procession  in  effigy.  This 
is  a  gilt  dragon  over  thirty  feet  in  length,  and  when 
the  legend  on  which  the  parade  is  based  is  critically 
examined,  it  turns  out  to  be  nothing  more  or  less  than 
our  old  friend  of  the  nursery,  St.  George  and  the 
Dragon.  It  is  impossible  to  assign  a  date  to  the  first 
celebration  of  this  fete,  but  it  was  certainly  anterior 
to  the  battle  of  Crecy,  at  which  a  contingent  from 
Mons  fought  on  our  side  with  much  distinction.  It 
has  always  been  said  that  they  took  with  them  into 
the  battle  an  enormous  cannon  which  was  brought 
home  to  Mons,  and  ever  afterwards,  as  long  as  it  held 
together,  it  figured  in  the  procession,  and  when  it 
came  to  pieces  a  wooden  facsimile  was  provided. 
For  some  time,  however,  the  cannon  does  not  seem 
to  have  figured  in  the  procession.  The  fete  ends  on 
the  Grand  Place  with  the  slaying  of  the  dragon  by  the 
modern  representative  of  St.  George,  who  is  called 
Gilles  de  Chin  in  the  local  history. 

While  the  fete  at  Mons  and  Binche  are  annual 
affairs,  those  at  Hasselt,  in  Limburg,  are  held  only 
once  in  seven  years,  and  consequently  they  gain  in 
elaborateness.  The  religious  element  is  also  more 
prominent.     The  celebration  takes  place  on  the  day 


KERMESSES,  FETES,  AND  LEGENDS        265 

of  the  Assumption  (August  15th),  which  is  not  only 
a  great  day  for  the  Church,  but  also  one  of  the  three 
national  holidays  established  by  law  in  Belgium.  The 
last  fetes  were  held  in  1905,  so  that  the  next  fall  due 
in  1912. 

The  celebration  is  really  in  honor  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  and  is  called  that  of  Virga  Jesse — the  patois 
for  Virgin  and  Jesus.  It  seems  to  be  as  old  as  Hasselt 
itself,  and  the  origin  of  the  legend  is  thus  described. 
Hasselt  derives  its  name  from  hazel-bosch  (hazel 
wood),  and  was  situated  in  old  days  in  the  center  of 
an  immense  hazel  wood.  The  town  began  with  a 
shrine  to  the  Virgin,  which,  as  some  say,  was  at- 
tached to  a  large  tree  at  cross  roads  in  the  heart  of 
the  forest.  Travelers  were  so  rejoiced  at  getting  thus 
far  in  safety  that  they  made  offerings  for  the  happy 
termination  of  their  journey.  In  this  way  the  shrine, 
to  which  before  long  a  chapel  was  added,  became  rich, 
and  in  a  clearing  of  the  forest  a  town  gradually 
sprang  up  which  is  the  modern  Hasselt.  The  shrine 
with  the  Virgin's  statue  was  transformed  from  the 
wood  to  the  church,  where  it  may  still  be  seen  black 
with  age.  On  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  the 
statue  is  taken  down,  dressed  in  costly  robes,  and 
crowned  with  a  jeweled  crown  given  by  one  of  the 
Popes,  and  carried  under  a  canopy  through  the  streets. 

That  is  the  religious  side  of  the  ceremony,  but  the 
popular  is  still  more  obtrusive.  In  the  first  place  the 
streets  are  lined  with  hazel  trees  placed  in  buckets, 


266  BELGIUM 

and  the  houses  are  embowered  in  branches  and  fo- 
liage gathered  by  the  young  from  the  neighboring 
woods.  This  is  to  recall  the  time  when  Hasselt  itself 
was  a  wood,  and  the  practice  is  said  to  date  from  the 
fourteenth  century.  Indeed,  the  fetes  were  held  an- 
nually down  to  the  eighteenth  century,  and  it  was  only 
under  French  and  Dutch  rule  that  they  were  restricted 
to  a  septennial  celebration. 

The  embowering  of  Hasselt  may  be  termed  the 
preparation  of  the  scene  for  what  follows.  The  first 
inhabitant  of  Hasselt  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  coun- 
tryman named  Hendrich,  who  lived  there  in  a  hut 
with  his  pigs  and  his  goats.  He  and  his  wife  and  his 
animals  are  carried  in  triumph  through  the  streets, 
but  his  modern  representative  is  allowed  to  smoke  his 
pipe,  which  would  have  somewhat  astonished  the  orig- 
inal Hendrich  of  the  tenth  or  eleventh  century.  There 
also  figures  in  the  procession  the  knight  who  has  lost 
his  way  in  the  forest  and  is  led  by  the  Virgin  to  Hend- 
rich's  hut.  This  incident  has  a  very  important  bear- 
ing on  the  fortunes  of  Hasselt,  for  the  knight  kills 
the  giant,  or  ogre,  who  dwelt  in  the  recesses  of  the 
forest  and  rendered  the  routes  unsafe  for  the  peace- 
ful traveler. 

The  reader  will  have  no  difficulty  in  concluding 
that  of  all  the  personages  in  the  procession  the  one 
that  attracts  most  popular  interest  is  the  Giant  him- 
self. He  is  called  the  "Lounge  Man,"  the  long  or 
tall  man.     He  is  so  big  and  tall  that  his  part  in  the 


KERMESSES,  FETES,  AND  LEGENDS        267 

play  cannot  be  filled,  and  he  is  therefore  carried  in 
effigy.  He  is  shown  in  armor,  seated  on  the  trunk  of 
a  tree,  placed  in  a  wagon,  or  chariot,  drawn  by  four 
horses.  So  far  the  procession  can  be  interpreted  in 
all  its  detail,  but  for  the  final  touch  in  the  arrange- 
ments no  reasonable  explanation  has  ever  been  offered. 
In  the  car  behind  the  Giant  is  an  immense  barrel  with 
a  tap  and  an  attendant.  He  serves  all  who  wish,  'and 
who  present  basins,  with  thick  pea-soup!  Why  it 
should  be  pea-soup  no  one  has  ever  attempted  to  ex- 
plain beyond  suggesting  that  it  might  be  intended  as 
an  object-lesson  in  the  practice  of  sobriety.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  the  fetes  of  Hassalt  enjoy  an  immense 
popular  success,  and  are  attended  by  as  many  as  30,000 
curious  visitors  from  Holland  and  Dutch  Limburg. 
The  fetes  of  the  Walloon  region  are  even  more 
distinctively  religious  than  those  of  Hasselt.  They 
are  based,  as  a  rule,  on  a  miracle,  and  partake  of  the 
character  of  a  pilgrimage.  Typical  of  these  may  be 
chosen  for  a  brief  description  the  procession  once  in 
seven  years  from  Rochefort  to  Foy  Notre-Dame,  near 
Dinant.  The  history  of  this  procession  is  fairly  well 
authenticated,  and  dates  no  further  back  than  the 
early  years  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  country 
was  then  visited  with  the  plague.  Many  deaths  had 
occurred,  and  failing  the  remedies  of  science  those  of 
faith  alone  offered.  It  was  reported  that  some  one 
who  had  made  an  offering  at  the  Virgin's  shrine  at 
Foy    Notre-Dame    had   been    cured    of    the    disease, 


268  BELGIUM 

whereupon  the  Count  of  Rochefort  led  his  people  in 
solemn  procession  to  the  shrine,  which  lies  about  fif- 
teen miles  out  of  Rochefort.  The  plague  was  stayed, 
and  there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  further 
outbreak  at  Rochefort  since  that  time,  but  the  proces- 
sion is  still  faithfully  kept  up. 

Every  year  devout  persons  pay  their  homage  at 
the  miraculous  shrine  at  Foy,  but  it  is  only  once  in 
seven  years  that  the  processional  march  is  held. 
Long  preparations  and  much  drilling  precede  the  ex- 
pedition, which  is  made  in  military  order.  Those  who 
are  selected  for  the  responsible  position  of  the  Count's 
bodyguard  are  carefully  trained  by  an  ex-soldier,  not 
merely  in  the  goose-step,  but  in  the  use  of  firearms, 
for  a  good  deal  of  firing  is  indulged  in  on  the  return. 
The  local  worthy  who  represents  the  Count  de  Roche- 
fort is  very  proud  of  himself,  as  clothed  in  armor  he 
takes  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  procession  on  a 
spirited  horse.  He,  too,  has  been  carefully  trained  for 
his  important  role,  for  not  every  one  accustomed  to 
broadcloth  can  wear  armor  without  making  himself 
ridiculous.  However,  thanks  to  the  careful  prepara- 
tion, all  goes  off  very  well. 

The  date  of  the  procession  is  Whit-Monday,  and 
it  will  next  take  place  in  1913.  As  the  distance  is 
considerable,  for  the  majority  in  the  procession  walk 
the  whole  way  there  and  back,  a  start  is  made  shortly 
after  the  sun  rises.  The  Count  heads  the  procession, 
then  comes  his  bodyguard,  followed  by  the  Catholic 


KERMESSES,  FETES,  AND  LEGENDS        269 

band  playing  religious  and  secular  music.  Then  ap- 
pear the  clergy  resplendent  in  chasuble  and  attended 
by  acolytes,  but  they  only  attend  the  cortege  to  the 
limits  of  the  town.  The  procession  includes  farmers 
on  horseback,  townsmen  and  villagers  on  foot,  women 
and  children  in  carts,  wagons,  and  vehicles  of  all  de- 
scriptions. The  old  women  are  even  more  keen  to  be 
present  than  the  young,  and  count  up  the  number  of 
processions  they  have  attended  in  the  course  of  their 
lives.  Sometimes  the  procession  is  quite  a  mile  in 
length,  and  on  that  day  Rochefort  is  left  practically 
empty. 

At  Foy  the  procession  is  received  by  the  local 
clergy  and  a  crowd  of  curious  sightseers  from  Dinant. 
A  special  service  is  held  in  the  church,  offerings  are 
made  at  the  shrine,  and  then  the  processionists  picnic 
in  the  neighboring  woods.  Late  in  the  afternoon  the 
order  of  march  is  re-formed,  and  the  party  return  to 
Rochefort.  Darkness  has  long  set  in  before  they 
reach  it,  buf  the  little  town  is  lit  up  in  their  honor. 
The  priests  are  again  there  to  receive  and  bless  them 
before  they  disperse,  and  as  a  final  honor  an  old  can- 
non is  brought  out  from  its  hiding-place  and  fired 
several  times  on  the  approach  to  the  old  castle.  It  is 
said  that  the  Count  was  thus  received  on  his  return 
from  the  original  procession  in  1610.  There  are  many 
other  pilgrimages  or  marches  of  a  similar  character 
carried  out  today  in  the  region  between  the  Sambre 
and  Meuse.     Llere,  if  anywhere  in  Belgium,  may  be 


270  1  BELGIUM 

found  the  old  folk-lore  of  the  Belgian  division  of  an- 
cient Gaul.  Chimay,  Couvin,  and  Mariembourg  are 
samples  of  mediaeval  townlets  not  to  be  seen  in  any 
other  part  of  the  country. 

Belgium  is  the  home  of  legend.  There  is  that  of 
John  of  Nivelles  and  his  dog.  John  was  a  Mont- 
morency, and  the  ancestor  of  Count  Horn.  There  is 
the  story  of  Caracol  and  Bristecol  (the  history  of 
Punch).  But  the  most  popular  of  all  is  the  story  of 
Aymon  and  his  four  sons  and  the  wonderful  horse 
Bayard.  The  Duke  Aymon  was  one  of  the  rebellious 
vassals  of  the  Emperor  Charlemagne,  and  when  he 
was  summoned  to  attend  his  sovereign  to  the  wars, 
he  sent  a  curt  refusal,  believing  that  his  castle  of 
Aigremont  was  so  strong  and  inaccessible  that  the 
Emperor  could  never  take  it.  This  castle  in  the 
Houyoux  valley  of  the  region  called  Condroz  exists 
today,  partly  as  an  imposing  ruin  and  partly  as  the 
residence  of  the  Counts  D'Oultremont.  It  looks  now 
inaccessible  enough ;  no  wonder  it  seemed  to  its  owner 
in  the  ninth  century  beyond  the  reach  of  the  most 
powerful  assailant.  Charlemagne  having  conquered 
his  external  foes,  decided  to  chastise  his  vassal,  and 
directed  a  host  to  level  Aigremont  with  the  ground. 
The  defenders  were  overmatched.  Aymon  was  taken 
prisoner  and  carried  off  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  his 
brother  Buves  was  slain. 

But  Aymon's  four  sons  escaped  by  mounting  all 
together  on  the  wonderful  horse  Bayard,  which  flew 


KERMESSES,  FETES,  AND  LEGENDS        271 

like  the  wind  and  soon  outdistanced  all  pursuers. 
They  took  refuge  in  the  Ardennes  forest,  where  they 
built  a  stronger  fort  than  Aigremont  at  Montfort  on 
the  Ourthe,  and  here  again  they  defied  the  Emperor. 
The  four  sons  were  named  Renault,  Allard,  Guichard, 
and  Richard.  They  were  all  of  gigantic  stature, 
Renault,  the  biggest,  being  sixteen  feet  high,  and 
Bayard  was  his  personal  property,  having  been  a  gift 
from  his  cousin  Maugis,  the  son  of  Buves.  Although 
the  castle  was  surrounded  by  a  triple  wall,  it  fell  to 
the  Emperor's  arms,  and  again  the  brothers  had  to 
mount  Bayard  and  flee.  They  are  next  heard  of  in 
Gascony  where  they  fought  for  King  Yon,  who,  little 
grateful  for  their  aid,  surrendered  them  to  Charle- 
magne. They  succeeded  in  escaping,  but  their  subse- 
quent adventures  are  obscure.  Renault  entered  the 
cloister  at  Cologne,  and  was  one  of  the  first  architects 
of  the  cathedral.  He  is  said  to  have  been  thrown  into 
the  Rhine  by  some  of  his  masons  whom  he  had  of- 
fended. If  this  could  be  accepted  as  fact,  it  would  be 
the  first  "strike"  on  record.  He  was  eventually  can- 
onized, and  there  is  a  fine  monument  to  him  at  Dort- 
mund, in  Westphalia. 

Of  the  other  brothers  there  is  little  to  tell,  but  re- 
port says  they  were  all  killed  at  different  times  and 
places.  The  last  of  them  let  Bayard  loose,  and  he 
rushed  into  the  forest,  for  the  party  had  returned  to 
the  Ardennes.  After  a  time  Bayard  himself  was 
caught  and  brought  before  Charlemagne,  who  thus 


272  BELGIUM 

apostrophized  him:  "You  have  often  upset  my  plans 
and  now  you  shall  do  so  no  more.,,  He  ordered  a  heavy 
stone  to  be  attached  to  his  neck  and  then  that  he 
should  be  driven  from  the  cliff  at  Dinant  into  the 
Meuse.  The  exact  scene  is  supposed  to  have  been  at 
the  Rocher  Bayard,  near  Dinant.  But  when  the  gal- 
lant horse  was  forced  over  the  cliff,  he  succeeded  in 
ridding  himself  of  the  stone,  and  swimming  across 
the  river,  escaped  into  the  woods,  and  was  never  more 
seen  by  mortal  eye.  The  old  belief  was  that  the  steed 
was  immortal,  and  in  some  of  the  villages  within 
recent  times,  when  the  wind  blew  loudly  at  nights  and 
children  were  querulous,  they  were  silenced  by  being 
warned  to  listen  to  the  noise  of  the  steed  Bayard  as 
he  raced  through  the  village. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

SPORTS,  OLD  AND  NEW 

THE  Netherlands  have  always  been  the  home  of 
sport.  Their  nobles  were  great  huntsmen,  and 
the  forest  of  the  Ardennes  abounded  in  wild  animals, 
including  the  wolf,  until  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Mary  of  Burgundy  died  from  a  fall  from 
her  horse  out  hawking,  and  the  legends  of  the  Ar- 
dennes revolve  round  the  chase  of  the  wild  boar.  The 
earliest  popular  sport  was  probably  shooting  at  a 
mark  with  a  crossbow,  for  the  crossbowmen  of  Flan- 
ders were  as  famous  as  the  archers  of  England.  Wil- 
liam Clito  and  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  were  both  vic- 
tims of  the  prowess  of  a  crossbowman  (arbaletrier) 
of  Flanders.  It  is  a  remarkable  proof  of  how  old 
customs  that  have  lost  all  utility  survive  to  find  a 
guild  of  crossbowmen  still  at  Bruges;  there  used  to 
be  a  guild  of  St.  George,  of  which  our  Charles  II  was 
a  member,  flourishing  in  Hainaut.  The  first  act  de- 
manded of  a  ruler  after  making  his  "joyous  entry" 
was  to  shoot  at  the  popinjay,  and  favorable  auguries 
were  drawn  from  his  hitting  the  mark.  Great  was 
the  joy,  for  instance,  when  the  Infanta  Isabella  scored 
at  the  first  trial  on  her  arrival  to  establish  what  was 
expected  to  prove  a  national  dynasty. 

273 


274  BELGIUM 

Archery  was  very  much  practiced  in  Hainaut  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  but  whether  the  long  bow  was  intro- 
duced into  England  from  Hainaut,  or  whether  the 
Hainauters  borrowed  it  from  their  English  comrades 
on  many  a  stricken  field  may  be  left  for  the  investiga- 
tion of  those  who  have  leisure  to  make  the  necessary 
research.  We  have  only  to  note  that  "confreries"  of 
archers  still  exist  at  Mons,  Qiuesnoy,  and  other  towns 
of  Haniaut,  and  that  it  is  no  unusual  sight  to  see  on 
Sundays  and  fete  days  members  of  these  societies  at- 
tired in  a  jerkin  and  buskin  with  the  plumed  hat 
associated  here  with  Robin  Hood  and  carrying  the  old 
six-foot  longbow.  Curiously  enough,  archery  as  a 
pastime  does  not  seem  to  exist  in  Belgium.  Modern 
Belgium,  among  the  numerous  games  and  sports  it 
has  borrowed  from  England,  has  not  taken  up  this 
particular  and  picturesque  game  of  skill. 

Perhaps  among  the  people  the  jeu  de  bal  is  as  old 
as  any  game  in  Europe.  It  is  played  all  over  Belgium 
in  the  public  squares,  and  even  in  the  open  streets  of 
provincial  towns.  It  is  nothing  more  than  hitting  a 
small  ball  backwards  and  forwards  between  two  play- 
ers. The  feature  of  the  game  is  that  each  player 
holds  a  wooden  bat  or  glove  into  which  his  hand  is 
inserted.  The  weapon  is  called  a  glove  (gant).  As 
the  material  for  this  game  is  practically  nothing  at 
all  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  it  in  general  use.  On 
fete  days  or  at  the  different  kermesses  there  are  com- 


SPORTS,  OLD  AND  NEW  275 

petitions  for  experts  at  the  jeu  de  bal  to  which  the 
commune  and  even  the  State  give  money  prizes. 

Another  very  old  sport,  still  in  general  indulgence 
throughout  Belgium,  is  pigeon-flying.  Indeed,  there  is 
no  sport  more  generally  followed  or  more  attractive 
to  the  masses.  In  some  parts  of  the  country  it  is  said 
the  Belgian  working  man  divides  his  wages  into  three 
parts,  one  for  the  family,  one  for  himself,  and  the 
third  for  his  carrier  pigeons.  The  extent  to  which  the 
practice  is  indulged  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact 
that  the  railways  receive  $600,000  a  year  for  the  car- 
riage of  the  panniers  (baskets)  conveying  pigeons  to 
and  from  the  places  of  meeting.  Large  prizes  are  of- 
fered by  the  different  societies,  and  during  the  year 
considerable  sums  of  money  are  won  and  lost  in  bets. 
The  freeing  of  the  birds  at  an  important  competition 
is  a  remarkable  sight.  At  one  held  during  the  late 
Brussels  Exposition  it  was  declared  that  as  many  as 
100,000  birds  were  let  loose  at  the  same  moment  from 
the  baskets  of   their  owners. 

In  old  days  contests  between  rival  parties  mounted 
on  stilts  were  a  feature  of  life  at  Namur.  The  use  of 
stilts  there  seems  to  have  arisen  from  the  prevalence 
of  floods,  and  from  the  fact  that  by  their  means  it  was 
possible  to  cross  the  river  Sambre  when  the  stream 
was  low.  The  old  town  of  Namur  was  situated  in 
the  fork  of  the  two  rivers,  and  the  new  town  was  that 
which  sprang  up  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Sambre. 
There  was  a  keen  rivalry  between  the  two,  and  the 


276  BELGIUM 

opponents  were  called  cchasseurs  because  their  bat- 
tles were  fought  on  stilts  (echasses).  To  put  a  curb 
on  the  practice  of  constant  irregular  fighting,  it  was 
arranged  by  the  town  authorities  to  hold  a  joust  once 
a  year  on  the  Place  St.  Remy  (now  the  Place  d'Armes) 
facing  the  Town  Hall.  The  two  factions,  called  the 
Melans  for  the  old  town  and  Avresses  for  the  new, 
sent  their  chosen  champions  to  the  fray  wearing  dis- 
tinctive costumes  and  colors,  yellow  and  black  for  the 
Melans,  and  red  and  white  for  the  Avresses.  As  a 
rule,  the  contestants  were  so  skilful  in  either  upsetting 
their  opponents  or  falling  themselves  that  they  escaped 
any  serious  injury,  but  when  the  French  revolution- 
ists overran  the  country,  these  jousts  were  abolished 
as  a  survival  of  feudalism  and  as  not  comporting  with 
the  gravity  of  the  times. 

We  come  now  to  the  introduction  of  what  were 
essentially  English  sports  into  Belgium.  About  thirty 
years  ago  young  Belgium  in  the  great  cities,  such  as 
Brussels,  Antwerp,  Ghent,  and  Bruges,  took  up  foot- 
ball, hockey,  and  amateur  competitions  on  the  running- 
ground.  It  was  done  in  a  modest  and  diffident  sort 
of  way  at  first,  and  some  supercilious  English  critics 
said  of  the  early  football  teams  that  they  were  not 
sure  what  the  game  was.  But  that  initial  stage  has 
passed  away,  and  whatever  his  skill  or  success  there 
is  one  characteristic  common  to  all  Belgian  athletes. 
He  is  in  real  earnest.  No  hour  is  too  early  for  him 
to  get  up  and  begin  training;  he  is  ever  ready  to  join 


SPORTS,  OLD  AND  NEW  277 

in  a  game  or  a  trial.  In  fact,  he  displays  the  old 
sporting  spirit  and  go  which  were  the  monopoly  of 
Englishmen.  The  contrast  is  furnished  in  Brussels 
by  the  young  Englishmen  who  happen  to  reside  in 
Brusesls.  They  pass  most  of  their  time  at  the  cafes 
and  smoking  cigarettes.  It  would  be  impossible  today 
to  get  together  in  Brussels  or  the  whole  of  Belgium 
an  English  side  that  could  hold  its  own  at  either  foot- 
ball or  hockey  with  any  of  the  leading  Belgian  college 
or  club  teams.  This  was  not  the  case  even  fifteen 
years  ago.  Owing  to  the  absence  of  suitable  playing 
fields  cricket  has  not  yet  caught  on  in  Belgium,  but 
at  the  new  club  grounds  in  the  Avenue  Longchamp 
several  first-rate  pitches  have  been  laid  down  and  the 
game  finds  a  few  enthusiastic  followers.  But  cricket 
is  never  likely  to  become  as  general  in  Belgium  as 
football  or  hockey. 

It  is  in  boating,  however,  that  young  Belgium  has 
made  the  most  sensational  progress,  but  in  this  par- 
ticular matter  Ghent  must  be  regarded  as  standing  for 
Belgium.  Two  boating  clubs,  the  Cercle  Nautique  de 
Gand  and  the  Royal  Club  of  Ghent,  were  founded  in 
the  Flemish  capital  about  twenty-five  years  ago,  and 
the  services  of  English  trainers  were  engaged.  The 
Scheldt  at  Ghent  is  a  little  superior  to  the  Cam  as  a 
river  and  a  little  inferior  to  the  Isis.  The  sport  or 
recreation  rapidly  became  very  popular  among  the 
young  Flemings,  and  under  clever  coaching  they  made 
great  progress.     About  twenty  years  ago  they  began 


278  BELGIUM 

to  compete  with  the  Dutch  at  Amsterdam  and  the 
Germans  at  Hamburg.  They  began  by  holding  their 
own,  and  after  a  time  they  scored  some  successes. 
These  preliminaries  instilled  confidence  into  them,  and 
at  last,  in  1898,  they  sent  a  crew  to  take  part  in  Hen- 
ley regatta. 

This  was  thought  rather  audacious  on  their  part, 
and,  to  tell  the  truth,  the  contestants  thought  so  them- 
selves, but  "nothing  venture  nothing  have."  During 
the  first  few  years  of  their  appearing  at  Henley  the 
Belgians  gained  no  successes,  but  some  observers  re- 
marked that  each  time  they  came  they  were  gradually 
getting  nearer.  At  last  in  1905  they  got  into  the  final 
heat  for  the  Grand  Challenge  Cup.  In  1906  they  scored 
their  first  victory,  carrying  off  the  cup  to  Ghent,  where 
the  victors  were  received  with  a  public  triumph.  In 
1907  they  won  again,  and  the  cup  was  again  carried 
off  to  the  banks  of  the  Scheldt.  The  Olympic  games 
of  1908  witnessed  the  next  struggle,  and  on  this  occa- 
sion a  picked  crew  of  the  Leander  Club  wrested  the 
cup  from  the  Belgian  visitors  after  a  hard  contest. 
But  at  the  regatta  of  1909  the  Belgians  were  again 
victorious,  no  special  effort  having  been  made  in  this 
country  to  resist  the  invaders.  In  1910  the  Ghent 
clubs  professed  their  inability  to  send  a  representative 
team  and  the  cup  was  returned  to  England.  Even  if 
Belgium  never  scored  again  at  Henley  her  represen- 
tatives did  enough  for  glory  and  to  show  that  in  what- 
ever they  take  up  they  are  doughty  adversaries. 


SPORTS,  OLD  AND  NEW  279 

Swimming  has  long  been  a  popular  relaxation  and 
swimming  baths  are  to  be  found  in  most  of  the  towns. 
The  rivers  are  also  utilized  for  floating  baths.  Fenc- 
ing is  also  much  in  vogue,  and  cercles  d'escrime  are 
numerous.  The  Belgians  are  not  quite  on  a  level  with 
the  French  or  possibly  the  Italians,  but  they  are  better 
than  all  other  nations.  Swedish  gymnastics  have  lat- 
terly been  introduced  and  are  now  compulsory  in  the 
army.  A  still  more  recent  importation  is  golf,  and 
first-rate  links  have  been  laid  out  ne#r  Antwerp. 
Speaking  generally,  sport  and  athletic  games  have 
been  taken  up  with  greater  avidity  and  pursued  with 
more  energy  and  perseverance  by  the  Flemings  than 
the  Walloons,  but  of  course  in  the  upper  strata  of 
society  race  does  not  tell  at  all.  The  temperament  of 
the  Walloon  does  undoubtedly  make  him  more  averse 
to  great  exertion  than  is  the  case  with  the  Fleming. 

This  reservation  does  not  apply,  however,  to  any- 
thing that  has  to  do  with  shooting  game  or  riding 
horses.  The  Ardennes  are  part  of  the  Walloon  country, 
and  here  every  one  is  more  or  less  of  a  sportsman.  For 
the  magnate  there  are  extensive  preserves  in  which 
pheasants,  wild  duck,  woodcock,  and  deer  of  all  kinds 
abound;  for  the  rich  there  are  the  shooting  rights  in 
the  communal  woods,  which  can  be  rented;  and  for 
the  people  there  is  the  free  right  in  the  river  valleys 
to  snare  woodcock  and  snipe  at  certain  periods.  The 
principal  delight  of  the  sportsman  is  the  wild  boar 
battue  which   goes  on  through  the  winter.     In  the 


280  BELGIUM 

Campine  region  black  game  and  patridge  are  found 
in  large  quantities,  and  in  the  late  autumn  the  deli- 
cious tasting  "grives"  are  captured  by  the  thousand. 
There  is  a  royal  chasse  at  Villers  sur  Lesse,  near 
Ciergnon,  another  at  the  chateau  of  the  Amerois,  and 
as  King  Albert  is  a  good  shot,  like  his  father,  the  late 
Comte  de  Flandre,  and  his  grandfather  Leopold  I,  it 
is  possible  that  the  Ardennes  will  see  more  royal  bat- 
tues in  the  near  future  than  they  have  at  any  former 
period.  The  provincial  noblesse  are  rather  conserva- 
tive in  their  methods.  For  deer  and  boar  they  prefer 
a  charge  of  slugs  to  the  single  bullet  of  a  small  bore 
rifle. 

The  Belgians  generally  take  great  pride  in  their 
horses.  At  Antwerp  the  heavy  Flemish  breed  pre- 
dominates, and  iron-greys  are  rather  in  favor  for  pri- 
vate carriages.  In  Luxemburg  and  Liege,  the  Arden- 
nais,  a  smaller  breed  than  that  of  Flanders,  but  ex- 
tremely handsome  when  pure  bred,  is  most  often  met 
with.  At  Brussels  English  thoroughbreds  and  Irish 
hunters  are  most  in  demand.  A  Belgian  gentleman 
is  very  dissatisfied  if  he  cannot  keep  one  horse,  and 
most  of  the  houses  in  the  fashionable  quarter  have 
the  porte  cochere,  which  denotes  that  there  is  a  stable 
in  the  rear.  A  house  is  then  entitled  to  use  the 
grander  designation  of  a  hotel. 

Within  the  last  twenty  years  horse-racing  has  been 
introduced  into  Belgium.  It  began  at  Ostend  and  Spa 
as  fashionable  watering-places,  with  the  view  of  at- 


SPORTS,  OLD  AND  NEW  281 

tracting  foreign  visitors.  After  a  time  two  race- 
courses were  laid  out  for  Brussels,  one  at  Boitsfort, 
near  the  Bois  de  la  Cambre,  the  other  at  Groenendael, 
in  the  forest  of  Soignes.  Both  these  places  are  pic- 
turesquely situated  and  well  arranged.  The  fashion- 
able world  goes  to  Boitsfort  in  particular  during  the 
summer  season,  and  the  Avenue  Louise  is  crowded 
with  carriages,  and  latterly  with  motor-cars  as  well, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  principal  meetings.  These  are 
always  held  on  Sundays,  and  as  the  prizes  have  been 
greatly  increased  in  value,  many  sportsmen  attend 
from  Paris,  and  even  from  London.  It  is  said  that 
horse-racing  has  taken  a  strong  hold  on  the  Belgian 
mind,  and  that  it  has  become  a  national  pastime.  But 
this  is  by  no  means  certain.  The  majority  of  those 
who  attend  the  races  at  Boitsfort  go  there  simply  to 
meet  their  friends  and  show  off  their  dresses,  and 
probably  never  make  a  bet.  A  subscription  is  taken 
for  the  whole  season  which  reduces  the  charge  of  ad- 
mission to  each  meeting  to  a  very  low  figure.  There 
are  other  race-courses  in  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, but  they  are  of  minor  importance  and  have  no 
attractions  for  society.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
horses  were  formerly  imported  from  England,  but 
the  native-bred  horse  is  coming  to  the  front,  and  Bel- 
gium has   started  its   own   stud  book. 

Horse-racing  in  Belgium  has  as  many  opponents 
as  here,  and  the  reformers  who  put  down  gambling 
in  the  casinos  and  clubs  with  a  ruthless  hand  often 


282  BELGIUM 

declaim  against  the  evils  of  the  new  importation.  Al- 
though they  are  not  likely  to  succeed  in  putting  an 
end  to  horse-racing  altogether,  it  seems  probable  that 
they  will  succeed  in  preventing  its  extension,  and  the 
number  of  meetings  is  not  likely  to  increase.  There 
is,  besides,  a  stronger  reason.  The  greater  prizes  to 
be  gained  on  the  French  turf  will  always  draw  off 
the  most  ambitious  and  successful  of  owners  of  race- 
horses in  Belgium. 

Enough  has  been  written  to  show  that  sport  in  all 
its  branches  and  phases  is  in  vigorous  life  and  con- 
stant progression  among  all  classes  of  the  Belgian 
people. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

CHARACTERISTICS    AND    CUSTOMS 

MOST  foreign  visitors  to  Belgium  give  a  very 
unflattering  description  of  Belgian  character, 
and  fix  upon  some  national  traits  or  habits  to  make 
them  subjects  of  ridicule.  This  was  not  the  impres- 
sion I  formed  of  the  people  during  the  several  years 
I  resided  in  the  country,  mixing  with  all  classes  of 
society  and  visiting  parts  rarely  if  ever  visited  by 
tourists.  There  are,  of  course,  disagreeable  persons 
in  Belgium  as  in  every  other  country,  but  I  brought 
away  the  most  agreeable  opinion  of  the  good  qualities 
of  the  people  as  a  whole,  and  in  saying  this  I  make 
no  distinction  between  Walloons  and  Flemings.  Both 
have  their  attractive  side,  although  the  latter  are  per- 
haps, on  the  whole,  the  most  agreeable  people  to  deal 
with.  Leaving  for  others  the  unpleasant  task  of  criti- 
cism, I  only  wish  to  dwell  here  on  some  of  the  popular 
types  as  they  struck  me  in  a  favorable  manner. 

If  I  were  asked  what  class  of  men,  taken  as  a 
whole,  impressed  me  most  favorably  in  Belgium,  I 
should  have  to  reply,  the  postman,  or  the  facteur  as 
he  is  called.  The  Belgian  facteur  has  raised  the 
science  of  delivering  letters  to  the  level  of  a 
fine  art.     He  works  with  his  head  as  well  as  his  fin- 

,  283 


284  BELGIUM 

gers.  He  has  mastered  the  first  secret  of  the  profes- 
sion. The  important  fact  on  the  envelope  is  not  the 
address,  but  the  name  of  the  person.  His  object  is  to 
find  that  person.  An  error  in  number  does  not  baffle 
him.  There  may  be  no  street  on  the  address.  The 
name  is  called  out  to  the  assembled  facteurs  in  the 
sorting-hall  at  the  Grandes  Postes,  and  the  man  who 
goes  out  to  St.  Giles  or  Etterbeck  exclaims:  "There 
is  a  person  of  that  name  at  such  and  such  an  address ; 
give  it  to  me  and  I  will  see  if  it  is  for  him."  If  the 
person  cannot  be  found  this  way,  the  register  at  the 
bureau  de  police  is  searched.  If  the  name  is  not  there, 
then  only  is  it  returned  to  the  dead-letter  office.  I  have 
had  letters  delivered  to  me  which  only  had  the  name 
Brussels,  and  I  was  a  stranger  in  the  land. 

There  is  another  art  that  the  facteur  has  learnt. 
He  is  always  cheerful  of  aspect,  as  if  he  were  the 
bearer  of  nothing  but  good  news,  and  when  he  brings 
a  registered  letter,  he  quite  beams.  I  have  once  or 
twice,  however,  seen  a  grave  sternness  displace  the 
smile,  when  the  dull  foreign  tourist,  ignorant  of  the 
general  custom,  omitted  to  give  him  the  three  or  four 
sous  that  is  the  usual  reward  for  a  lettre  chargee. 
It  is  little  omissions  of  this  sort  that  explain  a  good 
deal  of  our  unpopularity  on  the  Continent.  The  Bel- 
gian postman  not  only  delivers  the  letters,  but  also 
the  newspapers  to  subscribers,  and  I  never  recollect 
a  paper  going  astray  in  the  course  of  three  years. 
Perhaps  he  is  seen  at  his  best  on  the  occasion  of  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  CUSTOMS  285 

New  Year,  when  it  is  the  custom  to  send  one's  visiting 
card  to  all  one's  friends  and  acquaintances.  Then  he 
works  like  a  Titan  to  distribute  the  three  million  bits 
of  pasteboard  in  Brussels  alone. 

It  may  be  admitted  that  the  Brussels  facteur 
would  never  be  able  to  get  through  his  work,  or  to  do 
it  so  well,  but  for  the  electric  trams,  which  carry  him 
from  one  end  of  the  town  to  the  other.  These  are 
used  for  another  purpose  in  the  matter  of  correspond- 
ence. A  letter  box  is  to  be  found  at  the  end  of  each 
car,  into  which  an  express  letter,  bearing  _an  extra  25 
centimes,  or  2-cent  stamp,  may  be  dropped,  and  it 
will  then  be  delivered  as  rapidly  as  possible,  not  only 
in  Brussels,  but  throughout  the  kingdom.  Telegraph 
boys  are  waiting  at  all  the  chief  stopping-places  to 
open  these  boxes,  examine  the  letters,  and  take  out 
those  for  places  near  at  hand.  If  for  the  provinces, 
the  letter  is  taken  out  at  the  station,  sent  off  by  the 
next  train,  and  delivered  by  telegraph  boy,  or  if  the 
postoffice  is  closed,  by  the  station  porter.  No  doubt 
this  system  works  better  because  the  railways  are 
owned  and  managed  by  the  State.  Express  letters  are 
in  common  use  in  Belgium,  and,  as  worked  on  the 
uniform  charge  of  five  cents,  no  matter  what  the  dis- 
tance may  be,  are  undoubtedly  a  great  public  con- 
venience. 

The  tram-car  employees  are  also  a  deserving  body. 
They  work  very  hard  during  long  hours,  and  yet  they 
always  seem  fresh  and  up  to  the  mark.    The  cars  are 


286  BELGIUM 

divided  into  first  and  second  class,  the  difference  being 
that  in  the  former  there  are  cushions.  The  recezeurs, 
or  collectors,  are  often  the  recipients  of  a  little  per- 
quisite. Where  the  change  would  often  be  a  centime 
of  halfpenny,  the  fare  will  often  not  accept  it,  where- 
upon the  receveur  politely  raises  his  cap.  These  lit- 
tle favors,  especially  during  the  summer  time,  total 
up  to  a  considerable  addition  to  the  meager  wages 
paid  by  the  tram  companies.  I  cannot  remember  see- 
ing a  tram-car  collector  rude  or  disobliging  to  any  one, 
and  when  a  passenger  rises  too  late  to  stop  the  car  at 
one  of  the  arrets  facultatifs,  he  will  generally  express 
his  regret  at  having  got  too  far  to  make  it  possible. 
Accidents  are  not  as  numerous  as  might  be  expected, 
but  pedestrians  have  to  be  on  their  guard,  especially 
in  passing  behind  a  stationary  car  on  to  the  opposite 
line  of  traffic. 

The  railway  officials  are  another  class  who  come 
a  good  deal  under  one's  observation  in  traveling  about 
the  country.  If  the  best  side  of  them  is  to  be  seen, 
they  require  a  little  management,  and  some  considera- 
tion must  be  paid  to  their  dignity  as  State  officials. 
The  tourist  is  rather  prone  to  address  the  red-capped 
chef  de  gare  as  if  he  were  a  porter  at  home,  appointed 
for  the  express  purpose  of  giving  bewildered  travel- 
ers information.  That  is  not  included  among  the 
duties  of  a  station-master  in  Belgium.  His  function 
is  to  look  after  the  trains,  not  the  travelers.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  the  traveler  approaches  him  in  the  cor- 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  CUSTOMS  287 

rect  manner,  which  means  by  raising  his  hand  to  his 
hat,  he  at  once  unbends,  and  will  do  everything  he  can 
to  assist  him.  The  railway  guards  and  ticket-collectors 
also  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  luggage,  and 
it  is  beneath  their  dignity  to  help  to  take  it  out  of  the 
carriage.  The  porters  are  few  in  number,  and  their 
duties  of  taking  the  luggage  out  of  the  van,  etc., 
monopolize  their  time,  so  they,  too,  are  unable  to  as- 
sist travelers.  As  all  these  functionaries  wear  some 
sort  of  uniform,  it  is  to  them  that  the  tourist  looks 
for  aid  which  he  never  receives,  and  consequently  he 
or  she  feels  aggrieved  at  the  indifference  with  which 
the  demand  for  a  porter  is  received. 

If,  however,  the  traveler  should  utter  the  word 
Commissionaire,  there  would  be  no  lack  of  ready 
hands  to  carry  the  baggage,  as  on  every  platform  a 
good  supply  of  these  men  stand  ready  for  a  job.  They 
can  easily  be  distinguished  by  their  linen  shirts  or 
smocks,  and  generally  have  a  badge,  either  on  their 
cap  or  on  their  arm.  These  are  the  railway  porters, 
in  our  sense  of  the  term,  but  they  have  no  authority 
in  the  station,  and  must  not  do  anything  else  but  carry 
luggage.  They  are  to  be  found  outside  the  station 
also,  but  at  Brussels  a  penny  ticket  has  to  be  taken 
for  them  to  secure  their  admission  to  the  platform, 
even  when  carrying  travelers'  luggage. 

The  Brussels  policeman  has  often  been  held  up  to 
ridicule,  but  it  is  altogether  undeserved.  A  recent 
cartoon  in  Punch  pictures  a  small  representative  of 


288  BELGIUM 

the  law  trying  in  vain  to  get  a  big  Flemish  ouvrier 
out  of  a  beer-shop  and  finally  ending  the  colloquy  by 
saying,  "Then  stay  where  you  are."  The  cartoon  is 
not  more  true  to  life  than  such  skits  generally  are. 
In  the  first  place,  the  Brussels  policeman  is  not  so  very 
small,  but  his  loose  and  comfortable  costume  does  not 
give  him  the  stiff  and  imposing  appearance  of  our 
guardians  of  the  law.  He  is  really  a  very  active 
individual,  and  his  courage  is  beyond  question.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  the  criminal  class  with 
which  he  has  to  deal  is  far  more  dangerous  than  ours, 
apart  from  the  alien  element  in  some  of  our  large 
cities,  which  is  giving  our  police  authorities  a  taste  of 
Continental  conditions.  Brussels  criminals  always 
carry  revolvers,  and  know  how  to  use  them,  and  as 
they  generally  work  in  couples,  a  solitary  policeman 
has  to  be  always  on  his  guard.  The  newspapers  are 
seldom  without  an  account  of  an  affray  in  which  re- 
volver shots  are  exchanged,  but  it  is  very  rarely  that  a 
criminal  escapes  the  hands  of  justice.  The  Brussels 
policeman  is  not,  however,  assumed  to  be  at  the  serv- 
ice of  every  pedestrian  in  search  of  information. 
Still,  if  asked  a  question  with  sufficient  politeness,  he 
will  reply  to  the  extent  of  his  knowledge  with  equal 
civility.  But  his  engrossing  duty  is  to  watch  the 
crimnial  classes,  and  to  prevent  them  doing  much  mis- 
chief. This  duty  he  discharges  in  an  efficient  manner, 
considering  that  the  force  to  which  he  belongs  is  nu- 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  CUSTOMS  289 

merically  weak,  and  that  the  criminal  class  is  propor- 
tionally large. 

Passing  to  a  higher  class  in  society,  I  wish  to  say 
a  good  word  for  the  Belgian  officer.  He,  not  less  than 
the  Brussels  policeman,  is  made  an  object  of  carica- 
turists, and  very  unjustly.  I  have  known  or  met  a 
great  many  of  them,  and  I  have  found  them  intelli- 
gent, earnest,  and  devoted  to  their  profession,  although 
its  prospects  are  not  very  seductive,  and  the  chances 
of  earning  any  glory  in  it  seem  remote.  This  is  the 
more  remarkable,  because  the  greater  number  of  Bel- 
gian officers  come  from  the  body  of  the  people.  They 
represent  not  a  separate  class  or  caste,  but  just  the 
ordinary  citizens  of  the  country,  and  many  of  them 
have  risen  from  the  grade  of  soiis-ofticers.  The  noble 
class  only  enters  the  Guides,  and  to  a  less  extent  the 
Grenadiers,  Lancers,  and  Carabiniers.  Outside  the 
Guides  there  is  also  a  complete  absence  of  what  we 
call  "side."  The  Belgian  officer  is  a  quiet,  inoffensive 
fellow,  rather  inclined  to  take  the  small  affairs  of  his 
barrack  life  a  little  too  seriously,  but  entitled  to  spe- 
cial credit  for  the  attention  he  pays  to  the  wants  of 
his  men,  and  to  preserving  good  relations  with  them. 
It  is  not  his  fault  if  so  little  fighting  has  fallen  to  his 
lot,  and  if  his  reputation  in  real  warfare  has  still  to 
be  made. 

The  official  class  in  Belgium  presents  what  we 
should  consider  the  most  favorable  type  of  the  Bel- 
gian gentleman.    An  official  is  always  extremely  cour- 


290  BELGIUM 

teous  (I  speak  of  the  representatives  of  the  higher 
administration),  and  rather  a  stickler  for  formality. 
The  pith  of  his  remarks  may  be  small,  but  he  will 
cover  it  with  a  number  of  polite  phrases,  expressed 
in  classic  French.  The  staff  of  each  cabinet,  or  the 
inner  private  office  of  a  Secretary  of  State,  or  director 
of  a  department,  is  carefully  recruited  from  the  most 
promising  candidates,  who  are  selected  for  their  per- 
sonal appearance  and  family  connections  as  well  as 
their  attainments.  They  have  also  to  undergo,  after 
appointment,  qualifying  examinations  to  prove  their 
fitness  to  pass  into  the  higher  grades.  In  the  Foreign 
Office,  the  highest  level  of  excellence  is  maintained. 
In  speaking  of  the  characteristics  and  customs  of 
the  Belgians,  one  should  not  omit  to  mention  the 
women  of  Belgium,  who  are  noted  for  their  thrift, 
cleanliness,  and  capacity  for  work.  Even  visitors 
from  other  countries,  who  are  prejudiced  against 
everything  foreign,  and  who  have  not  a  word  to  say 
in  behalf  of  the  men,  are  impressed  in  their  favor. 
There  is  a  complete  absence  of  that  tawdriness  which  is 
so  obtrusive  and  offensive  among  our  working  classes, 
and  the  neat  and  tidy  way  in  which  all  the  women 
in  Belgium,  without  exception,  arrange  their  hair  is 
a  striking  contrast  with  the  dishevelled  locks  or  flount- 
ing  chignons  of  their  English  and  American  sisters. 
A  case  of  a  Belgian  woman  wearing  any  hair  but  her 
own  is  not  to  be  found.  The  first  impression  formed 
in  the  country  is  that  the  women  do  all  the  work, 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  CUSTOMS  291 

which  brings  the  reflection  in  its  train  that  the  men 
must  have  an  easy  time  of  it.  On  the  latter  point  this 
is  corrected  by  greater  knowledge  of  the  subdivision 
of  labor;  but  the  opinion  that  the  female  half  of  the 
community  works  as  hard  as  the  male  will  not  in  any 
way  be  modified.  Women  manage  all  the  shops,  from 
the  small  groceries  and  greengroceries  up  to  business 
of  importance,  and  it  is  only  in  the  largest  establish- 
ments that  men  take  their  place.  They  will  be  helped 
in  this  task  by  their  children  or,  if  there  is  one,  by 
their  grandfather;  but  it  is  considered  somewhat 
undignified  for  an  active  man  to  mind  a  shop.  He 
will  often  seek  and  obtain  employment  outside  the 
business  which  his  wife  stops  at  home  to  conduct. 
All  the  purveyors  and  carriers  of  milk  are  women, 
and  their  little  carts  drawn  by  dogs  with  their  bright 
brass  cans,  are  one  of  the  sights  of  Brussels,  espe- 
cially when  they  are  all  assembled  on  the  Grand  Place 
for  inspection. 

As  between  Flemish  and  Walloon  women  it  is  dif- 
ficult for  an  outsider  to  draw  a  just  comparison.  In 
appearance  the  Flemings  are  shorter  and  slighter  than 
their  half-sisters.  They  are  also  a  fair-haired  race, 
with  bright  complexions  and  pink  cheeks.  The  Wal- 
loon is  far  taller  and  big  in  proportion,  generally  dark, 
with  pale  face  and  very  marked  features,  although 
tradition  declares  that  she  should  be  fair,  and  assigns 
for  dark-haired  women  a  Spanish  or  even  a  Roman 
origin,  which  is  going  rather  far  back.     It  is  not  at 


292  BELGIUM 

all  uncommon  to  meet  a  flaxen-haired  woman  of  grand 
physique  among  the  Walloons  of  Liege  and  Luxem- 
burg, and  this  is  especially  the  case  among  some  of 
the  old  noble  families.  But,  as  a  rule,  the  Walloon 
woman  is  dark,  just  as  the  Flemish  is  fair.  There  is 
more  energy  about  the  Fleming  and  more  dignity 
about  the  Walloon.  The  former  works  harder  and 
calls  the  latter  lazy;  the  latter  is  a  better  manager, 
and  requires  a  higher  grade  of  comfort  in  her  domes- 
tic life,  and  is  disposed  to  regard  her  Flemish  sisters 
as  being  somewhat  behind  the  day  and  not  quite  on  the 
same  plane  of  culture  as  herself.  There  may  be  some 
foundation  for  this,  and  if  we  were  to  apply  the  test 
of  cooking,  Walloon  cooks  are  pronounced  superior 
in  every  way  to  Flemish.  It  is  said  that  the  Flemings, 
despite  their  clean  and  natty  appearance  in  the  streets, 
are  not  so  scrupulously  clean  in  their  domestic  ar- 
rangements as  is  desirable,  and  as  is  undoubtedly  the 
case  throughout  the  Walloon  country.  Both  have  a 
marked  partiality  for  fine  clothes  and  bright  colors, 
and  those  who  have  only  observed  the  people  in  their 
workaday  clothes  would  not  recognize  the  same  per- 
sons as  they  go  to  mass  on  Sundays.  The  Walloons 
dress  in  better  taste  than  the  Flemings,  and  as  they 
are  considerably  taller,  they  carry  their  clothes  more 
gracefully  and  with  greater  effect.  The  art  of  dress- 
making has  been  carried  to  a  higher  point  of  per- 
fection among  them,  and  most  Walloon  girls  can  cut 
out  their  own  clothes  and  make  them  in  the  latest 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  CUSTOMS  293 

fashion.  It  is  quite  remarkable  to  notice  the  degree  to 
which  the  art  of  dressing  well  is  carried  among  the 
Walloon  women  of  all  classes,  especially  as  there  is 
no  corresponding  movement  among  the  men.  While 
the  men  in  their  Sunday  clothes  are  just  ordinary 
provincials,  their  wives  and  daughters  might  easily  be 
mistaken  for  Parisennes. 

The  characteristics  which  mark  the  people  at  large 
are  also  found  among  the  leisured  and  well-to-do 
classes.  The  Belgian  lady  has  very  much  the  same 
views  of  life  as  her  humbler  sister.  Money  means 
practically  finer  clothes,  more  visits  to  the  theater,  a 
longer  vacation  at  the  seaside  or  in  the  country,  but 
the  objects  that  constitute  her  ideas  of  a  pleasant  life 
are  practically  the  same.  Society  passes  its  time  with 
a  certain  lazy  indifference  and  a  complete  absence  of 
the  exciting  whirl  of  entertainments  that  constitutes 
life  in  New  York,  London,  or  Paris.  There  is  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  visiting,  afternoon  teas,  the  daily 
drive  to  the  Bois,  and  there  are  occasional  charity 
bazaars;  but  these  must  all  form  part  of  the  regular 
existence  anywhere  of  those  who  have  no  obligation 
to  work  for  a  living.  The  chief  feature  of  Belgian 
society,  as  of  Belgian  life  generally,  is  its  domesticity. 
The  family  and  its  affairs  form  the  pivot  upon  which 
the  whole  social  system  turns.  It  is  very  creditable 
and  homelike,  if  the  charge  cannot  be  avoided  that  the 
result  is  a  trifle  dull. 


294  BELGIUM 

In  Luxemburg  there  is  still  a  quaint  custom  main- 
tained, in  the  celebration  of  the  "dancing  procession." 
Not  long  after  the  death  of  Bishop  Willebrod,  Lux- 
emburg was  visited  by  a  cattle  plague,  and  it  was  a 
popular  belief  in  those  days  that  the  only  way  to  re- 
store the  animals  affected  was  for  the  men  and  women 
to  imitate  them  by  dancing  and  jumping  about.  The 
plague  on  this  occasion  was  not  arrested  by  these 
steps,  and  then  it  was  proposed  that  a  chosen  band 
of  "holy  dancers"  should  proceed  to  St.  Willebrod's 
shrine  and  make  an  offering.  The  result  of  this  pro- 
ceeding was  considered  to  be  the  staying  of  the  plague 
and  the  practice  has  been  followed  ever  since,  for 
over  1,100  years. 

The  dancing  procession  in  its  modern  dress,  which 
distinguishes  it  from  the  more  austere  presentment  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  is  one  of  the  prettiest  sights  that 
could  be  imagined.  The  participants  reveal  sometimes 
the  fatigue  natural  from  their  severe  physical  exercise, 
but  none  of  the  frenzy  of  religious  zeal  in  a  high  state 
of  exaltation.  The  procession  is  formed  on  Prussian 
territory,  across  the  bridge  over  the  Sure,  and  many 
participants  come  from  the  Eiffel,  where  the  people  are 
as  good  Catholics  as  in  the  Duchy.  All  that  region 
was  subject  to  the  Luxemburg  princes  centuries  before 
Prussia  was  thought  of,  and  St.  Willebrod's  fame  is 
not  restricted  by  present-day  frontiers. 

About  nine  in  the  morning  of  Whit-Tuesday,  those 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  CUSTOMS    295 

who  intend  joining  the  procession  form  up  on  the  east- 
ern side  of  the  bridge,  the  clergy  await  them  on  the 
western,  and  when  the  signal  is  given,  the  priests,  with 
their  attendant  acolytes,  lead  the  way.  The  bridge  and 
its  approaches  are  fifty  yards  across,  from  the  bridge 
to  the  Church  of  St.  Pierre  through  the  main  street  of 
the  town  1,200  metres  (1,310  yards  nearly)  have  to 
be  traversed,  and  the  dancers  have  to  move  three  steps 
forward  at  a  time  and  then  take  two  backwards.  For 
each  five  steps  they  take  then  they  move  forward  only 
one;  for  the  1,200  metres  they  come  6,000.  The  pro- 
cession is  formed  seven  in  a  line,  and  the  dancers  keep 
together  by  holding  pocket-handkerchiefs  or  scarves 
between  them.  Along  the  route,  which  is  crowded, 
firemen  are  stationed  to  pick  up  those  who  fall,  and 
the  spectators  exhort  the  dancers  to  persevere  to  the 
end. 

The  end  is  the  hardest  part  of  the  ordeal,  for  the 
Church  of  St.  Pierre  stands  on  a  slight  eminence 
which  is  reached  by  sixty-two  steep  steps.  Even  here 
the  processionists,  after  mounting  three  steps,  have  to 
retrace  two,  and  the  steps  are  worn  and  hollowed  by 
the  countless  pilgrims  of  many  centuries.  The  proces- 
sion ends  in  front  of  the  Saint's  shrine,  and  by  that 
time  the  dancers,  who  include  persons  of  all  ages  from 
youth  to  old  age  and  members  of  both  sexes,  are  quite 
exhausted  by  their  four  miles  of  hopping.  After  the 
ceremony  a  popular  fete  is  held  for  the  amusement  of 


296  BELGIUM 

the  twenty  thousand  visitors  who  flock  into  the  town 
on  these  occasions.  The  pilgrimage,  or  procession, 
is  probably  the  oldest  of  its  kind  still  existing  in  Eu- 
rope, and  the  fervor  of  the  participants,  like  the  in- 
terest of  the  spectators,  shows  no  sign  of  abatement. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

WATERWAYS   AND  RAILWAYS 

ALTHOUGH  canals  in  Belgium  are  not  so  ob- 
trusive as  they  are  in  Holland,  yet  they  are  far 
more  important  and  numerous  than  the  visitor  to  the 
country  might  imagine.  The  question  of  the  internal 
waterways,  which  may  be  subdivided  into  rivers, 
canalized  rivers,  and  canals,  of  the  country  has  always 
been  of  national  import.  The  guilds  of  the  watermen 
(bateliers)  were,  in  the  days  of  the  communes,  among 
the  most  important  at  Ypres,  Bruges,  and  Ghent;  it 
was  on  a  matter  of  rivalry  between  their  boatmen 
that  Ghent  fell  upon  Ypres  and  shattered  its  power  in 
1383.  At  the  present  time,  despite  the  advent  of  rail- 
ways, communication  by  water  is  of  the  greatest 
value  to  the  economic  system  of  Belgium,  and  a  new 
policy  has  been  inaugurated  of  constructing  new  ship- 
canals  or  enlarging  old  ones  for  the  passage  of  ocean 
steamers  into  the  heart  of  the  country. 

The  rivers  used  as  waterways  for  commerce  are 
the  Meuse,  the  Scheldt,  the  Lys,  the  Dendre,  and  the 
Dyle.  The  importance  of  the  Scheldt  may  be  judged 
from  the  fact  that  three  great  cities,  Antwerp,  Ghent, 
and  Tournai,  are  situated  upon  it,  and  that  boats  paid 
toll  on  it  at  Tournai  in  the  tenth  century.    The  Meuse, 

397 


298  BELGIUM 

the  Lys,  and  the  Dendre  have  been  canalized  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  their  courses,  and  the  question  of  the 
more  effective  control  of  the  Meuse  below  Maestricht 
is  one  in  which  the  Belgian  public  apparently  takes 
more  interest  than  the  Dutch.  Further  reference  will 
be  made  to  this  matter. 

In  the  official  list  kept  in  the  office  of  the  "Ponts  et 
Chaussees"  fifty-two  separate  canal  systems  are  rec- 
ognized among  the  national  waterways.  They  have  a 
total  length  of  1,637  kilometres,  or  a  little  over  1,020 
miles.  The  total  tonnage  of  goods  carried  by  ordinary 
boats  on  these  waterways  in  1908  reached  the  enor- 
mous total  of  1,111,773,961  tons.  Of  this  only  a  small 
part  related  to  foreign  countries.  The  imports  into 
Belgium  by  water  in  the  same  year  amounted  to 
6,228,815  tons  and  the  exports  to  7,128,390. 

In  addition  to  the  fifty-two  canals,  etc.,  enumerated 
there  are  five  ship-canals,  viz. : 

Length  in  Kilometers     Tonnage 

Brussels  to  the  Rupel 27.3  4,807,029 

Ghent,  Bruges,  Ostend 23.3  267,723 

Ghent  to  Terneuzen 17.5  22,898,308 

Louvain  to  the  Dyle 30.6  8,280 

Bruges   to   Zeebrugge 16  475,810 

114.7  28,457,150 

These  figures  establish  the  importance  to  Belgium 
of  her  canals  and  riverways.  Canal  life  in  Holland  is  a 
more  picturesque  affair  than  in  Belgium,  but  it  may 
be  questioned  whether  the  amount  of  traffic  is  as  great 
in  the  Northern  Netherlands  as  it  has  become  in  the 


WATERWAYS  AND  RAILWAYS  299 

Southern.    The  following  are  the  details  of  the  goods 
conveyed  by  the  internal  canals: 

Combustibles    319,656,095  tons 

Minerals,    etc 108,881,739  " 

Building  Materials  and  Metals 211,016,193  " 

China  and  Glass 88,066,579  " 

Wood   36,191,028  " 

Agricultural    Produce 165,146,470  " 

Industrial   Produce 52,004,753  " 

Merchandise   130,811,104  " 

Total    1,111,773,961     " 

In  a  recent  year  the  ordinary  expenses  on  canals 
and  waterways  amounted  to  $477,234.40,  and  the  re- 
ceipts from  tolls  to  $419,519.60.  But  in  1907  and  1908 
a  capital  expenditure  of  nearly  $10,000,000  on  the  im- 
provement of  canals  and  rivers  as  waterways  was 
sanctioned.  This  shows  the  importance  attached  to 
their  development. 

It  was  Drusus,  it  will  be  recollected,  who  first  in- 
troduced a  system  of  canalization  into  the  Netherlands 
by  giving  a  new  arm  to  the  Rhine,  and  there  is  evi- 
dence that  the  canals  from  Ostend  to  Bruges,  with  a 
prolongation  towards  Ghent,  and  from  Brussels  to  the 
Rupel  and  the  Scheldt,  existed  in  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries.  When  Charles  of  Lorrain  com- 
pleted the  Bruges-Ghent  canal  150  years  ago,  it  was 
especially  recorded  that  it  had  been  commenced  in 
1379.  When  the  Willebroek  canal  was  enlarged  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  it  enabled  William  the  Silent  to 
perform  the  whole  journey  by  water  from  Antwerp  to 
Brussels.     In  mediaeval   Flanders   the   Lys   provided 


300  BELGIUM 

Ghent  with  a  natural  water  route  to  Courtrai  and, 
incidentally,  to  Ypres  as  well,  and  the  Scheldt  one  to 
Audenarde  and  Tournai.  Further  east  the  Dender 
connected  Termonde  with  Alost  and  Grammont,  while 
the  Ruppel  and  the  Senne  linked  Brussels  with  the 
Scheldt. 

In  many  respects  the  Meuse,  which  is  partly  a 
French  and  partly  a  Dutch  river,  is  the  most  impor- 
tant of  all  Belgian  waterways.  In  its  upper  course  it 
is  linked  with  some  of  the  most  important  French 
canals  (the  canal  des  Ardennes  among  others),  giving 
access  to  the  heart  of  the  old  provinces  of  Champagne, 
Lorraine,  and  Burgundy.  The  wine  of  these  provinces 
is  imported  by  water  the  whole  way  to  Dinant,  Namur, 
and  Liege,  and  this  mode  of  conveyance  explains  why 
the  wines  of  Burgundy  have  always  been  especially 
excellent  in  Belgium.  There  is  another  reason  for 
the  superexcellence  of  Burgundy  in  the  Meuse  valley. 
The  cellars  are  cut  in  the  rock,  and  at  certain  seasons 
of  the  year  when  the  river  is  in  flood  the  water  is 
admitted,  and  when  the  tide  falls  it  leaves  the  bottles 
clothed  in  mud  which  is  said  to  invest  them  with  a 
special  and  stimulating  protection.  In  old  days  wine 
and  wood  were  the  principal  articles  conveyed  on  the 
Meuse,  but  since  1880  the  most  important  import  has 
been  iron  from  the  famous  iron-field  of  the  Vosges. 
This  is  sent  direct  to  Liege,  or  branches  off  at  Namur 
to  proceed  up  the  Sambre  to  Charleroi.  Thanks  to 
this  cheap  water  conveyance,  French  iron  competes 


WATERWAYS  AND  RAILWAYS  301 

successfully  with  that  from  Germany  or  the  Grand 
Duchy,  which  can  only  reach  the  Liege  market  after 
a  more  or  less  costly  railway  journey.  Since  the  ex- 
haustion of  the  home  iron  mines  between  the  Sambre 
and  Meuse,  Belgium  has  been  entirely  dependent  on 
the  supply  from  foreign  sources,  and  cheap  transport 
necessarily  forms  an  important  point  in  the  degree  of 
profit  with  which  this  mineral  can  be  ultilized. 

The  most  important  question  relating  to  the  Meuse 
is  as  to  the  possibility  of  establishing  communication 
for  ocean  steamers  to  as  high  up  as  Liege.  This  is 
rather  a  Belgian  grievance,  as  the  Dutch  authorities 
have  been  accused  of  apathy  and  indifference.  The 
matter  requires  a  little  careful  consideration. 

When  it  became  clear,  after  the  Belgian  Revolu- 
tion, that  Dutch  rule  was  ended  in  what  used  to  be 
called  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  the  Dutch  clung  to 
the  possession  of  the  town  of  Maestricht  for  senti- 
mental reasons  as  the  scene  of  the  heroism  of  their 
race,  and  the  indulgent  Powers  accepted  and  sup- 
ported the  claim.  Maestricht  is,  however,  of  not  the 
slightest  practical  value  to  Holland.  At  the  same 
time  that  Maestricht  was  left  to  the  Dutch  the  part  of 
Limburg  lying  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Meuse  was 
ceded  to  Holland  as  compensation  for  what  it  lost  in 
Luxemburg.  This,  roughly  speaking,  consists  of  the 
cantons  of  Sittard  and  Ruremonde.  While  these  ces- 
sions of  territory  were  made  for  the  benefit  of  Hol- 
land, it  was  expressly  laid  down  that  the  use  of  all 


302  BELGIUM 

canals  was  to  be  free  and  common  for  both  countries. 
It  may  be  useful  to  quote  the  precise  stipulations  of 
the  treaty,  for  this  question  of  the  Middle  Meuse  is 
very  likely  to  become  important  if  only  for  the  inter- 
esting and  difficult  engineering  problems  connected 
with  it.  The  following  is  the  text  of  the  special 
Articles  relating  to  the  matter: 

"Art.  10. — The  use  of  the  canals  which  traverse 
simultaneously  both  countries  shall  continue  to  be  free 
and  common  to  their  inhabitants.  It  is  understood 
that  the  enjoyment  thereof  shall  be  reciprocal,  and  on 
the  same  conditions,  and  that  on  both  sides  there  will 
be  on  the  canals  only  moderate  navigation  dues. 
Art.  II. — Commercial  communications  by  way  of  the 
town  of  Maestricht  and  that  of  Sittard  shall  remain 
entirely  free  and  shall  not  be  impeded  on  any  pretext 
whatsoever." 

The  importance  of  this  strip  of  Dutch  territory  to 
Belgium  is  that  it  intercepts  Belgian  communications 
with  Germany,  while  Holland  is  bound  not  to  impose 
more  than  moderate  tolls  on  goods  passing  to  and 
from  Germany  by  either  road  or  canal.  The  most 
important  canal  in  the  region  is  the  South  William 
Canal  which  connects  Maestricht  with  Bois  le  Due, 
passing  through  a  certain  portion  of  Belgian  territory. 
This  canal  is  used  chiefly  because  it  saves  the  wide 
bend  of  the  Meuse  by  Venlo,  but  if  the  Meuse  itself 
were  canalized  below  Vise,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Bel- 
gian traffic  would  favor  the  main  river. 

At  the  present  time  Venlo  marks  the  limit  of  up- 
stream navigation  for  steamers.  There  is  a  regular  daily 


WATERWAYS  AND  RAILWAYS  303 

packet  from  Rotterdam  to  this  place,  but  the  Dutch 
have  made  no  attempt  to  improve  the  river  above  that 
town  for  the  reason,  as  they  admit,  that  it  would  bene- 
fit Liege.  In  anticipation  of  something  being  done 
by  the  Dutch  the  Belgians  have  canalized  the  Meuse 
below  Liege  to  the  frontier  at  Vise,  and  expend  a 
certain  sum  annually  in  its  up-keep  by  dredging.  But 
the  state  of  the  river  below  Vise  has  rendered  this  a 
useless  expense.  Small  pleasure  steamers  ply  in  the 
summer  between  Liege  and  Maestricht  as  they  do 
above  Namur  to  Dinant  and  Waulsort,  but  these 
have  no  commercial  value. 

Belgium's  possession  of  the  left  bank  of  the  Meuse, 
interrupted  by  the  enclave  of  Maestricht,  continues 
below  the  circumference  of  that  town  to  a  point  al- 
most equidistant  between  Masseyck  and  Ruremonde. 
The  whole  of  this  strip  of  the  Meuse  of  which  Hol- 
land holds  the  right  bank,  is  uncanalized  and  of  no 
use  to  commerce  beyond  what  may  be  conveyed  in 
barges.  Moreover,  the  river  in  flood  is  dangerous 
for  navigation  even  by  them,  and  between  Ruremonde 
and  Venlo,  where  Holland  holds  both  banks,  the  floods 
are  aggravated  by  the  addition  of  the  equally  uncon- 
trolled waters  of  the  river  Roer,  which  flows  into  the 
Meuse  at  Ruremonde.  Both  the  Belgians  and  the 
Dutch  citizens  of  Limburg  consider  it  a  grievance  that 
nothing  has  been  done  in  this  matter,  and  lay  the 
chief  blame  at  the  door  of  the  Hague  Government. 
The  people  of  Ruremonde  in  particular  grumble  a 


304  BELGIUM 

good  deal  because  it  is  impossible  for  excursion  steam- 
ers to  come  as  high  as  that  place.  It  would  be  dif- 
ferent, they  have  been  heard  to  say,  if  we  belonged  to 
Belgium. 

A  Dutch-Belgian  commission  has,  however,  been 
considering  the  question  of  late,  and  something  may 
soon  be  done.  The  Belgian  Government  is  quite 
prepared  to  undertake  its  share  of  the  work  and  the 
expenditure,  and  that  of  Holland  without  committing 
itself  has  recently  displayed  more  interest  than  it  has 
ever  done  on  any  former  occasion.  The  canalization 
of  the  Meuse  between  Vise  and  Venlo  would  no  doubt 
be  a  costly  affair,  but  the  reclamation  of  the  land  now 
subject  to  inundation  would  go  far  towards  meeting 
the  whole  expenditure. 

Another  great  question  with  regard  to  the  im- 
provement of  Belgian  waterways  is  that  of  rectifying 
the  course  of  the  Scheldt  just  below  Antwerp.  The 
river  here  takes  a  wide  sweep  to  the  westward,  and 
it  has  been  proposed  to  obviate  this  by  cutting  a  new 
bed  for  the  river  across  the  neck  of  the  promontory. 
This  scheme  is  known  as  "la  grancie  coupure"  and  has 
had  as  many  opponents  as  supporters.  But  there 
seems  no  reason  for  doubting  that  it  is  practically 
decided  on,  and  that  as  soon  as  the  removal  of  the 
enceinte,  now  in  progress,  has  been  effected,  this  task 
will  be  taken  in  hand.  No  other  hypothesis  will  ex- 
plain the  postponement  of  work  on  the  two  forts  in- 
tended to  defend  the  river  approach  to  the  great  city. 


WATERWAYS  AND  RAILWAYS  305 

The  adoption  of  the  "grande  coupure"  will  not  merely 
give  a  direct  entrance  to  the  existing  quays  (thus 
saving  a  curve  of  at  least  six  miles),  but  it  will  also 
allow  of  their  extension  northward  for  a  distance  of 
two  miles.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that  the  lower 
Scheldt  is  in  a  special  degree  liable  to  visitations  of 
fog,  and  the  straighter  the  river  course  becomes  the 
more  is  the  risk  of  accident  diminished.  For  the  mo- 
ment the  weak  point  in  the  defenses  of  Antwerp  is 
to  be  found  on  the  side  of  approach  from  the  sea 
owing  to  the  deferred  settlement  of  the  "grande  cou- 
pure' problem. 

The  reported  intention  of  the  Dutch  Government 
to  fortify  the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt  at  Flushing  has 
raised  considerable  discussion  in  Belgium,  where  the 
Scheldt  is  regarded  as  essentially  a  Belgian  river.  In 
1831-39  Europe  very  foolishly  gave  Holland  both 
banks  of  the  Scheldt  from  a  short  distance  below 
Lillo,  but  at  the  same  time  it  established  the  common 
rights  (that  is  to  say  joint  and  equal)  of  Belgium  and 
Holland  in  the  navigation  of  the  river.  A  Dutch 
fortress  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  might  seriously 
interfere  with  and,  indeed,  close  the  access  to  Ant- 
werp from  the  sea.  Under  certain  contingencies  this 
might  mean  all  the  difference  between  national  salva- 
tion and  perdition.  It  is  not  surprising  then  if  Bel- 
gian opinion  is  seriously  disturbed  at  the  outlook. 

Belgium  was  the  first  Continental  State  to  take  up 
a  system  of  railway  construction  under  the  auspices 


306  BELGIUM 

of  the  Government.  Immediately  upon  his  arrival  in  the 
country  King  Leopold  I  ordered  the  appointment  of 
a  commission  to  prepare  a  plan,  and  two  competent 
engineers,  Messrs.  Simons  and  De  Ridder,  were  en- 
trusted with  the  task  of  surveying  the  country  with 
special  reference  to  such  a  design.  The  hostilities  with 
the  Dutch  and  the  uncertainty  as  to  Belgium's  own 
future  no  doubt  explained  how  it  was  that  the  elabora- 
tion of  the  plan  required  three  years.  The  report 
recommended  that  Malines  should  be  selected  as  the 
central  point,  and  that  through  it  should  pass  a  line 
north  and  south  from  Antwerp  to  Brussels  and  Na- 
mur,  and  east  and  west  from  Ostend  to  Bruges, 
Ghent,  Louvain  and  Liege.  The  report  was  adopted, 
and  in  May,  1835,  the  first  train  ran  from  Malines  to 
Brussels.  In  the  following  year  communication  was 
established  with  Ghent  and  Liege.  M.  Charles  Rogier 
was  the  minister  who  carried  out  the  King's  wishes, 
and  the  seventeen  speeches  he  delivered  on  the  sub- 
ject in  a  single  season  contained  a  remarkable  prog- 
nostication as  to  the  influence  railways  would  exer- 
cise on  the  development  of  the  country. 

Encouraged  by  the  success  of  the  Government 
main  lines,  a  large  number  of  public  companies  were 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  special  local 
lines  that  seemed  to  be  needed,  and  at  one  time  these 
represented  a  greater  mileage  than  the  State-owned 
lines,  but  these,  as  was  always  the  intention,  have,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  been  bought  up.    At  the  end  of 


WATERWAYS  AND  RAILWAYS  307 

1908  the  distribution  of  the  different  lines  of  railway 
is  shown  in  the  following  table,  the  mileage  being 
approximate : 

Mileage 

Railways  built  by  the  State 637 

Railways  built  for  the  State  and  taken  over  by  it 443 

Railways  built  by  Private  Companies  and  bought  up  by 

the   State    1,430 

Railways  worked  by  the  State  in  conjunction  with  the 

Companies 150 

Total  mileage  under   State  control 2660 

There  are  also  seven  small  private  railway  companies 
with  a  total  mileage  of  250  miles,  but  portions  of 
these  lines  are  on  Dutch  and  French  territory. 

The  total  cost  of  constructing  the  State-controlled 
lines  is  given  at  a  little  over  five  hundred  million  dol- 
lars, or  at  the  rate  of  $200,000  per  mile.  The  num- 
ber of  persons  employed  on  these  railways  was  in  the 
year  named  70,500,  and  there  were  1,557  stations  and 
minor  halts.  These  are  all  included  in  an  official  guide 
called  the  Indicateur  Beige,  or  Guide  Official,  published 
three  times  a  year  at  the  price  of  threepence.  Fares 
are  based  on  a  fixed  charge  per  kilometre,  and  season 
tickets  are  issued  for  short  or  long  periods  available 
over  the  whole  of  Belgium.  The  season  tickets  bear 
a  photograph  of  identity  and  require  a  deposit  of  five 
francs,  returnable  at  the  close  of  the  period  for  which 
the  ticket  is  taken.  The  short-term  tickets — five  or 
fifteen  days — are  especia1ly  suitable  and  convenient 
for  tourists.  The  total  number  of  travelers  on  all 
Belgian  railways  in  1908  was  nearly  177  millions. 


308  BELGIUM 

As  the  state  is  responsible  for  accidents  and  has 
to  indemnify  for  death  or  injury,  the  following  sta- 
tistics are  interesting.  Out  of  the  177  million  passen- 
gers in  1908,  forty-seven  were  killed  and  1,015  injured. 
Out  of  the  70,500  employees  fifty-one  were  killed  and 
549  injured.  In  addition  to  these,  seventy-eight  per- 
sons described  as  neither  traveling  at  the  time  of  the 
accident  nor  employed  on  the  railways  were  killed  and 
seventy-four  wounded.  Included  in  this  total  were 
suicides  and  persons  killed  -at  level  crossings. 

In  addition  to  her  heavy  railways  Belgium  is  en- 
dowed with  an  extensive  system  of  light  railways 
which  have  been  immensely  developed  and  extended 
within  the  last  twenty  years.  In  1890  there  were  only 
705  kilometres  constructed,  but  in  1908  the  total  had 
risen  to  3,260  kilometres,  or  nearly  2,040  miles,  and 
each  year  witnesses  the  construction  of  some  more  of 
these  useful  feeders.  These  light  railways  have 
proved  very  profitable. 

Statistics  are  not  available  as  to  the  total  number 
of  passengers  on  light  railways,  but  the  return  of 
accidents  shows  among  passengers  nine  killed  and  sev- 
enty-two injured,  among  employees  two  killed  and  ten 
injured,  and  among  other  persons  forty-two  killed  and 
forty  injured.  The  high  number  of  accidents  to  out- 
siders will  not  be  surprising  to  those  who  know  that 
these  railways  are  quite  unprotected,  and  that  the 
track  passes  through  woods  where  it  is  often  diffi- 
cult to  see  the  train's  approach.    The  trains  on  these 


WATERWAYS  AND  RAILWAYS  309 

lines  are  restricted  to  a  speed  of  sixteen  miles  an  hour. 
The  carriages  are  small,  and  each  is  divided  by  a  glass 
door  into  two  compartments,  one  for  smokers  and  the 
other  for  non-smokers.  The  platform  at  each  extrem- 
ity is  available  for  passengers,  and  is  specially  coveted 
when  the  route  happens  to  pass  through  pretty  scen- 
ery, as  is  the  case  between  Paliseul  and  Bouillon.  The 
season  tickets  mentioned  above  are  available  also  on 
the  majority  of  the  light  railways. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  COLONIAL  QUESTION 

BELGIUM  having  been  provided  with  a  magnifi- 
cent colony  in  the  vast  Congo  region,  not  by  her 
own  merit  or  efforts,  but  by  the  cleverness,  courage, 
and  pertinacity  of  her  great  ruler,  Leopold  II,  there 
are  two  points  of  view  from  which  her  position  as  a 
Colonial  Power  may  be  regarded.  The  first  is  as  to 
her  capacity  to  retain  what  she  did  not  acquire  by 
national  merit  or  achievement,  and  the  second  is  as  to 
how  far  an  African  dependency  can  be  successfully 
governed  by  a  small  parent  State  which  has  been  com- 
pelled by  the  force  of  opinion  and  pressure  from  out- 
side to  accept  conditions  of  perfection  far  in  advance 
of  what  I  would  call  the  chronometrical  stage  that  has 
been  reached  in  the  development  of  the  African 
problem. 

I  must  clinch  this  point  to  make  the  differentiation 
in  my  argument  clear.  Belgium  is  a  small  Power, 
she  cannot  escape  from  the  position  under  any  con- 
ceivable circumstances.  The  meaning  of  this  applied 
to  practical  affairs  is  that  she  will  be  held  more  rigidly 
than  others  to  the  literal  execution  of  her  own  pro- 
gram defined  by  the  principles  of  somebody  else.  I 
foresee  grave  troubles  ahead  for  Belgium  in  this  direc- 

310 


THE  COLONIAL  QUESTION  311 

tion,  and  so  far  as  I  have  means  of  judging,  Belgian 
authorities  do  not  appreciate  them.  A  Great  Power 
like  England  may  have  the  finest  principles  placed  at 
the  head  of  her  African  program,  but  who  is  to  con- 
trol her  if  she  interpret  them  in  her  own  way?  Bel- 
gium has  adopted  those  principles,  but  she  will  be  kept 
to  them.  Her  range  of  license  and  liberty  in  judgment 
and  action  are  restricted.  However,  let  us  serious 
students  of  that  dark  and  menacing  African  problem 
only  rejoice  that  for  a  time  at  least  the  Congo  con- 
troversy has  been  laid  at  rest  and  that  one  may  write 
the  name  without  fear  of  being  denounced  as  a  par- 
tisan. 

We  have  been  told  that  the  Belgians  are  not  a 
colonizing  people.  It  might  be  rejoined  that  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  when  colonizing 
by  the  European  Powers  began,  the  Dutch  took  good 
care  •  that  they  should  not  become  one.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  the  debut  of  the  Ostend  Company 
was  so  promising  that  its  English  rival  took  very  ef- 
fective measures  to  cut  short  its  life.  About  sixty 
years  ago  Leopold  I  began  to  point  out  that  Belgium 
was  growing  so  fast  at  home  that  she  must  look  about 
for  possessions  across  the  oceans.  She  was  exhorted 
to  look  about  not  merely  for  fresh  markets,  but  for 
points  of  vantage  that  would  secure  fresh  markets 
eventually.  She  made  attempts  in  Guatemala,  For- 
mosa, and  elsewhere.  Nothing,  however,  came  of 
them.     In  1875,  ten  years  after  the  second  Leopold 


312  BELGIUM 

came  to  the  throne,  Belgium  was  without  a  colonial 
possession,  and  her  flag  was  unknown  outside  French 
and  English  harbors. 

The  change  that  then  took  place  was  due  to  the 
happy  inspiration  of  the  King  of  the  Belgians  to 
concentrate  his  attention  on  the  African  slave  trade 
question  which  had  been  brought  to  the  front  by  the 
efforts  of  Sam  Baker,  Richard  Burton,  and  David 
Livingstone.  But  at  that  moment  nothing  was  known 
of  the  heart  of  Africa,  and  more  particularly  as  to  how 
it  might  be  reached  from  the  West  Coast.  It  was, 
therefore,  a  very  appropriate  subject  for  a  Geograph- 
ical Conference,  and  King  Leopold  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity to  invite  the  qualified  authorities  to  hold  it  in 
Brussels.  That  was  the  first  stone  on  the  road  to  an 
African  dominion.  The  second  was  the  securing  and 
monopolizing  of  the  services  of  Stanley  when  he  at- 
tempted in  vain  to  interest  a  jaded  England  in  the 
discovery  of  the  great  river  which  furnished  a  water 
highway  across  the  breadth  of  Africa.  King  Leopold 
was  neither  tired  nor  obtuse.  He  secured  Stanley's 
services  till  the  end  of  the  century  by  a  handsome 
retainer.  It  is  needless  to  dwell  on  the  untiring  en- 
ergy with  which  he  created  a  chain  of  stations  across 
the  Congo  valley,  and  obtained  from  the  native  chiefs 
treaties  ceding  to  him  their  sovereign  rights  to  whose 
validity  a  British  Commissioner  in  1884  was  con- 
strained to  give  reluctant  testimony. 

When  the  African  Conference  met  at  Berlin  to- 


THE  COLONIAL  QUESTION  313 

wards  the  end  of  that  year  the  Powers  were  con- 
fronted with  a  fait  accompli.  King  Leopold  had  con- 
structed a  sort  of  dominion.  He  was  at  least  the  man 
in  possession.  Who  was  going  to  turn  him  out? 
Prince  Bismarck  and  the  French  Government  were 
determined  that  it  should  not  be  England.  The  Con- 
ference ended  then  with  the  legalizing  of  the  Belgian 
ruler's  position  in  the  international  sense,  and  by  clever 
negotiation  with  the  neighboring  States  he  extended 
that  position  over  a  vast  area  of  Africa  far  beyond  the 
widest  limits  explored  by  either  Stanley  or  any  Bel- 
gian lieutenant.  In  less  than  eight  years  Leopold  II 
had  acquired  a  colony  as  large  as  Europe,  omitting 
Russia.  He  acquired  it  almost  without  firing  a  shot, 
and  the  diplomatists,  dazed  by  his  audacity,  left  the 
Prussian  capital  with  the  secret  solace,  "Well,  he  will 
never  keep  it!"     They  were  wrong;  he  did. 

The  King's  achievement  was  too  great  for  his  own 
subjects.  In  Brussels  the  gift  of  a  ready-made  colony 
was  received  with  fear  and  anxiety.  Had  it  been  a 
little  one,  it  might  have  been  accepted  on  the  ground 
that  it  did  not  mean  much,  that  its  possession  could 
not  possibly  offend  any  one,  and  that  in  the  course  of 
time  the  Belgian  people  might  adapt  themselves  to  the 
new  situation.  But  this  colony,  brought  back  by  the 
King's  plenipotentiaries  in  their  portfolio,  was  almost 
a  continent,  a  pearl  of  great  price  among  Tropical 
lands,  and  a  recent  bone  of  contention  among  the 
Great   Powers.     The  Belgians  of   1885   would  have 


314  BELGIUM 

nothing  to  do  with  the  gift.  Their  Constitution  was 
passed  for  home  use.  They  preferred  the  freedom 
from  anxiety  without  a  colony,  to  unknown  trouble 
and  worry  with  one.  They  candidly  admitted  their 
ignorance  in  the  matter,  and  professed  no  avidity  to 
learn.  The  most  they  would  do  was  to  assent  to  their 
King  taking  the  problem  on  his  own  shoulders  as 
Sovereign  of  the  Congo,  and  in  that  capacity  he  ruled 
it  from  1885  to  1908. 

It  would  be  quite  outside  the  purpose  of  this  chap- 
ter to  describe  even  in  summary  those  twenty-three 
years  of  personal  rule.  What  concerns  our  present 
topic  is  to  note  that  Belgian  opinion  underwent  a  com- 
plete change  on  the  subject  in  that  period.  Three 
main  causes  contributed  to  modify  the  views  of  1885, 
and  to  convert  the  indifference  of  that  year  into  the 
pride  and  pleasure  of  owning  a  valuable  possession 
which  was  the  dominant  sentiment  in  1908.  These 
causes  were  the  sacrifice  of  many  noble  Belgian's  lives 
in  the  Arab  campaigns,  the  sinking  of  a  considerable 
sum  of  money  by  the  several  grants  in  aid  made  by 
the  Belgian  Government  to  the  Congo,  and  the  evi- 
dence acquired  as  to  the  great  wealth  of  the  African 
possessions  in  vegetable  and  mineral  produce.  For 
these  reasons  the  Belgian  public  were  not  merely  will- 
ing but  in  a  hurry  to  take  off  their  King's  hands  the 
Colony  at  which  they  had  looked  askance  a  quarter  of 
a  century  before.  Not  British  criticism  but  Belgian 
pressure  compelled   King   Leopold  to   surrender  the 


THE  COLONIAL  QUESTION  315 

separate  role  of  absolute  monarch  in  Africa  which  in 
his  closing  years  he  undisguisedly  hoped  to  retain 
with  life. 

When  the  Belgian  Government  and  Parliament  in 
1908  took  over  the  Congo  State,  they  became  for  the 
first  time  a  Colonial  Power,  and  as  they  introduced  at 
once  a  new  system  and  new  principles,  the  experiment 
was  invested  with  double  interest.  While  some  critics 
have  been  complaining,  unreasonably  as  every  candid 
person  will  admit,  that  the  new  system  has  not  been 
introduced  with  sufficient  rapidity  to  please  them,  I 
would  draw  attention  here  and  also  in  Belgium  to 
some  practical  matters  that  in  moments  of  keen  con- 
troversy escape  notice.  The  first  matter  is  the  prob- 
ability of  Belgium's  succeeding  as  well  in  her  colo- 
nizing mission  under  the  new  laws  as  King  Leopold 
did  by  his  own  will  in  defiance  of  everybody.  If  she 
does  not  succeed  in  her  mission,  she  will  place  her 
colony  in  graver  jeopardy  than  it  was  in,  let  me  say, 
in  1904,  when  the  British  Government  was  inclined 
to  push  matters  to  extremities.  For  the  Belgian  peo- 
ple the  motto  should  be  "Success  at  all  costs." 

For  running  a  colony  successfully  during  the  stages 
when  it  is  admitted  that  it  can  not  pay  its  way  on  its 
own  resources  two  things  are  necessary  —  men  and 
money.  Under  King  Leopold  an  equilibrium  had  after 
the  first  fifteen  years  of  recurrent  deficit,  been  estab- 
lished by  the  profits  made  by  the  concessionaire  com- 
panies, and  in  the,  let  us  say,  last  ten  years  of  per- 


316  BELGIUM 

sonal  rule  a  large  surplus  had  been  derived  from  the 
produce  of  the  Congo  plantations.  But  the  conces- 
sions have  been  cancelled,  the  companies  have  dis- 
appeared, and  the  Government  finds  at  its  immediate 
disposal  a  very  limited  as  well  as  uncertain  revenue. 
This  revenue  is  for  the  present  quite  disproportionate 
to  the  work  that  has  to  be  performed.  As  Belgian 
public  opinion  had  to  be  coaxed  and  propitiated  in 
every  way  to  make  the  taking  over  of  the  Congo  as 
nearly  unanimous  as  possible,  one  of  the  official  as- 
surances given  was  that  it  would  cost  the  country 
nothing.  The  Congo  was  a  sound  going  concern  with 
a  good  surplus.  At  the  moment  when  this  was  said 
the  statement  was  perfectly  true,  but  the  institution 
of  reforms  has  eliminated,  as  we  shall  see,  some  of 
the  most  profitable  and  easily  garnered  sources  of 
revenue. 

The  new  Colonial  Minister,  M.  Renkin,  whose  zeal 
in  the  cause  of  reform  on  the  Congo  deserves  full 
recognition,  realized  the  position,  and  his  first  budget 
was  remarkable  for  the  boldness  with  which,  ignoring 
the  possibility  of  a  deficit,  he  sanctioned  an  expendi- 
ture far  exceeding  anything  attempted  by  his  prede- 
cessors. As  the  reward  of  his  courage  the  price  of 
rubber  rose  on  the  international  market  by  over  sixty 
per  cent,  thus  averting  the  necessity  of  issuing  a  new 
Colonial  loan. 

The  Budget  for  1909  was  fixed  at  $7,223,907,  but 
as  this  was  a  transition  year,  the  finances  of  the  new 


THE  COLONIAL  QUESTION  317 

regime  really  commence  with  the  year  1910.  The  or- 
dinary expenditure  for  1910  was  estimated  in  the 
Budget  at  $8,074,162,  and  the  extraordinary  at  $6,703,- 
355.  The  extraordinary  expenditure  was  to  be  pro- 
vided for  by  the  issue  of  Treasury  Bonds  running  for 
a  period  of  not  more  than  five  years.  It  was  estimated 
that  the  ordinary  revenue  would  bring  in  $7,941,061, 
thus  leaving  only  a  small  deficit.  The  principal  items 
of  regular  expenditure  are  set  forth  as  follows: 

Administration  in  Africa $1,406,882 

Public   Force    (military) 1,442,440 

Marine    (transport) 404,776 

Health    165,240 

Public    Works 188,900 

Customs  and  Fiscal  Service 426,719 

Agriculture   328,389 

Mines    233,010 

Upkeep  of  Domain 1,049,256 

Justice    368,096 

Service  of  the  Debt 1,306,016 

The  items  of  the  extraordinary   expenditure   in- 
clude the  following: 

Creation    of   Agricultural    and    Breeding    Establish- 
ments    $  400,000 

Divers  Public  Works 3,385,580 

Katanga  Subsidy 300,000 

Occupation  of  lands  in  Katanga 800,000 

New  Battery  at  Shinkakassa 400,000 

New    Boats 345,330 

Second  Annuity  of  Special  Fund  for  $10,000,000  to 

King    Leopold 660,000 

With  regard  to  the  last-named  item,  King  Albert, 

declining  to  derive  any  personal  benefit  therefrom, 

caused  the  first  annuity  to  be  treated  as  the  nucleus  of 

a  Pension  Fund  for  those  who  have  served  on  the 

Congo,  which  was  greatly  needed,  and  the  second  to 


318  BELGIUM 

be  applied  in  the  purchase  of  steamers.    The  principal 

items  of  revenue  were  the  following: 

Customs     $1,411,311 

Ivory    (sale  of) 629,200 

Rubber    (sale    of) 2,679,500 

Rubber    (tax  on) 259,000 

Mines    504,000 

Native    taxes 400,000 

As  compared  with  the  figures  of  1909,  mines  and 
ivory  show  an  increase,  and  rubber,  despite  its  higher 
market  value,  a  decrease.  Customs,  show  a  rise  of  fif- 
teen per  cent,  and  the  new  export  duty  promises  to 
prove  a  valuable  addition  to  the  revenue.  For  the 
first  time,  too,  a  tax  paid  by  the  natives  in  cash  figures 
in  the  record. 

The  public  debt  of  the  Congo  in  1910  amounted  to 
$24,167,040  (bonds  actually  issued),  and  the  interest 
for  the  year  to  about  $920,000,  while  $386,016.20  fig- 
ured for  redemption. 

Allowing  for  the  fact  that  several  of  the  sources 
of  revenue  are  of  an  expanding  order  and  that  the  as- 
sets left  by  the  late  administration  are  likely  to  prove 
of  great  value,  the  financial  outlook  for  the  Congo 
Colony  is  bright  and  encouraging.  It  ought  not  to  be 
very  long  before  the  Government  will  be  able  to  raise 
the  sum  expended  in  Africa  to  ten  million  dollars 
per  annum. 

We  come  now  to  the  question  of  the  men.  In  1909 
the  total  staff  of  officials  in  Africa  numbered  1,636. 
Thev  were  subdivided  as  follows: 


THE  COLONIAL  QUESTION  319 

Governor-General    1 

Vice-Governor-Generals    3 

State  Inspectors 4 

Commander  of   Public  Force 1 

Secretaries    5 

Magistrates    60 

Commissioners,   etc 31 

Chiefs  of  Zone 55 

Officers  of  Force 175 

Engineers     20 

Doctors,    etc 47 

Postal   Services 41 

Captains  of  Steamers 51 

Forest  Service,  etc 54 

Unspecified    1,088 

Total    1,636 

In  addition  to  the  strictly  State  service  213  were 
employed  on  the  Great  Lakes  railways,  and  seventy-six 
under  the  Katanga  Special  Committee,  which  is  in 
political  charge  of  the  province.  These  officials  are 
not  exclusively  Belgians.  This  will  be  understood 
when  it  is  stated  that  there  were  in  all  only  1,722  Bel- 
gians in  the  whole  of  the  Congo  in  1908,  and  included 
in  this  total  are  at  least  322  priests,  sisters  of  mercy, 
women  and  children.  The  proportion  of  Belgians  to 
non-Belgians  seems  to  be  about  sixty  per  cent.  For 
instance,  of  the  sixty  magistrates  in  the  last  table 
thirty-five  were  Belgians,  eleven  Norwegians,  nine 
Italians,  one  Dane,  one  Roumanian,  one  French,  and 
two  Swiss. 

The  slow  and  slight  increase  in  the  white  popula- 
tion of  the  Congo  is  a  disturbing  and  discouraging 
fact.  The  following  table  gives  the  number  of  Bel- 
gians and  non-Belgians  in  the  years  named: 


320  BELGIUM 

Year  Belgians  Non-Belgians  Total 

1900  1,318  886  2,204 

1901  1,465  881  2,346 

1902  1,417  948  2,365 

1903  1.442  1,041  2,483 

1904  1,410  1,101  2,511 

1905  1,501  1,134  2,635 

1906  1,587  1,173  2,760 

1907  1,713  1,230  2,943 

1908  1,722  1.217  2,939 

Among  non-Belgians  the  numerical  order  of  na- 
tionalities was — 

Swedes    190 

Italians    181 

Portuguese    : 143 

Dutch   119 

English    118 

Swiss    90 

Germans   63 

Americans    55 

Russians 55 

French    51 

Norwegians    48 

Danes   , .  29 

Grand  Duchy 29 

Greeks    11 

Austrians    9 

Australians    8 

Canadians    8 

Transvaalers    5 

Turks    1 

Servians    1 

Mexicans     1 

Bulgarians    1 

Argentina    1 

1^217 

Of  these  the  British  subjects  and  the  Americans 

are  either  missionaries,  or  engineers  and  prospectors. 

There  are  none  in  the  State  service.    The  Portuguese, 

Germans,   Greeks,   and  minor   divisions   are   traders. 


THE  COLONIAL  QUESTION  321 

The  Swedes,  Italians,  Norwegians,  Danes,  and 
Swiss  are  exclusively  in  the  State  service  —  so 
are  the  majority  of  the  Dutch,  French,  and  Luxem- 
burgeois.  At  one  time  there  were  over  500  Italian 
officers  in  the  State  service,  but  the  pay  was  low  and 
there  was  no  chance  of  promotion,  so  the  majority 
resigned  and  retired  on  the  expiration  of  their  first 
engagement.  The  point  of  these  statistics  is  that  at 
least  forty  per  cent  of  the  1,636  functionaries,  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest  grade,  are  non-Belgians  and 
have  to  be  recruited  where  they  can  be  obtained.  It 
has  always  been  the  practice  of  the  Belgians  to  refrain 
from  engaging  either  French  or  Germans,  and  al- 
though Englishmen  were  utilized  in  the  early  years, 
none  have  been  employed  for  a  very  long  time,  and 
it  is  unlikely  that  any  will  be  engaged  in  the  future. 
The  idea  is  that  citizens  of  small  States  are  the  most 
suitable  for  another  small  State  to  employ,  and  the 
services  rendered  by  the  Scandinavians,  Danes,  and 
Swiss  have  been  invaluable  and  beyond  all  praise. 

The  Congo  having  become  a  Belgian  colony,  it  is 
natural  that  one  of  the  principal  objects  of  the  new 
administration  should  be  to  make  the  service  more  and 
more  exclusively  Belgian,  and  with  this  object  in  view 
the  salaries  for  those  serving  in  Africa  have  been 
raised  to  an  amount  sufficient  to  attract  fully-qualified 
men.  The  new  pension  scheme  is  also  another  attrac- 
tion. While  the  special  services,  like  the  transport, 
can  be  left  to  non-nationals  (the  captains  of  the  steam- 


322  BELGIUM 

ers  are  exclusively  Scandinavians),  the  tendency  to 
place  the  general  civil  and  military  administration  in 
the  hands  only  of  Belgians  will  become  more  marked. 
The  officers  of  justice  are,  however,  likely  to  remain 
of  mixed  nationalities  as  at  present,  for  it  is  consid- 
ered that  this  intermixture  gives  the  Courts  a  greater 
appearance  of  impartiality.  At  all  events,  the  re- 
morseless critic  cannot  get  up  an  agitation  against 
Belgian  judges  in  the  Congo  when  they  sit  with  a 
Norwegian  or  an  Italian  beside  them. 

Another  great  reform  is  the  careful  selection  of 
the  volunteer  for  the  Congo  before  he  is  allowed  to 
proceed  to  Africa.  Formerly  a  man  had  only  to  offer 
to  go  out  to  be  accepted  and  shipped  off  at  once.  It 
is  quite  certain  that  such  a  candidate  possessed  no 
special  aptitude  for  work  in  the  Tropics,  and  it  was 
a  miracle  if  he  turned  out  to  be  any  good  at  all.  This 
description  applies  to  the  rank  and  file,  and  not  to  the 
comparatively  few  officers  of  the  Belgian  army  who 
went  out  on  "special  mission"  and  helped  to  raise  the 
tone  of  the  service  generally.  It  is  now  hoped  to 
raise  the  standard  all  round  to  a  level  with  the  special 
men  under  the  old  system.  There  is  another  improve- 
ment. Formerly  the  men  sent  out  were  untrained ; 
if  it  were  the  case  of  a  second  engagement  and  the 
applicant  had  a  good  record,  it  was  a  cause  of  much 
rejoicing,  for  it  was  realized  that  some  one  useful 
had  been  secured. 

But  now  this  loose  system  has  been  radically  al- 


THE  COLONIAL  QUESTION  323 

tered ;  yet  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that  the  change  began 
under  the  late  King  who  founded,  in  the  last  years  of 
his  rule,  the  School  of  Tropical  Medicine  in  Brussels, 
the  Colonial  College,  the  Colonial  Museum  at  Ter- 
vueren,  and  the  World-School,  which  was  to  have  been 
at  the  same  place.  All  these  institutions,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  last  named,  which  has  been  temporarily 
dropped,  are  in  active  work.  No  doctor  or  veterinary 
surgeon  is  allowed  to  go  to  the  Congo  until  he  has 
passed  through  the  School  of  Tropical  Medicine,  in 
connection  with  which  there  is  a  hospital  at  Water- 
mael  for  invalids  from  the  Congo.  The  student  has 
therefore  training  in  practice  as  well  as  in  theory. 
There  were  forty  doctors  at  this  school  in  1909,  of 
whom  twenty-three  were  Italians,  thirteen  Belgians, 
two  Norwegians,  one  English,  and  one  French.  Their 
special  study  is  the  treatment  of  the  terrible  malady 
called  "sleeping  sickness." 

In  the  year  named  the  course  at  the  Colonial  Col- 
lege was  followed  by  twenty-five  commissioned  offi- 
cers, eighty-three  clerks  and  former  agents,  and  nine- 
teen non-commissioned  officers.  The  consequence  of 
this  improved  system  is  not  merely  that  trained  men 
are  now  sent  out  in  lieu  of  untrained,  but  that  the 
candidates  themselves  take  a  more  serious  view  of 
their  mission.  Formerly  men  went  to  the  Congo  to  a 
large  extent  to  escape  from  debt;  now  it  is  to  begin 
a  fine  career.  Evidence  of  the  change  is  already  vis- 
ible in  the  returns  of  mortality  among  officials.     The 


324  BELGIUM 

percentage  of  deaths  is  little  more  than  half  what  it 
was  a  few  years  ago — the  figures  being  4.60  per  cent 
in  1908  as  against  79  in  1901.  The  tours  of  King 
Albert  and  M.  Renkin  through  the  Congo  were  spe- 
cially intended  to  demonstrate  that  a  visit  to  Central 
Africa  did  not  cut  short  one's  life,  and  their  example 
could  not  fail  to  embolden  the  timid. 

The  Colonial  Museum  at  Tervueren  is  a  splendid 
monument  of  the  successful  work  accomplished  on  the 
Congo.  The  building  is  a  magnificent  structure  placed 
in  one  of  the  most  charming  spots  round  Brussels,  and 
the  collection  gives  a  complete  picture  of  the  ethnol- 
ogy, fauna,  and  natural  products  of  Central  Africa. 
Admirably  arranged  by  its  distinguished  Director, 
Baron  de  Haulleville,  author  of  the  best  work  on  the 
colonizing  aptitudes  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  the 
student  of  the  development  of  the  Dark  Continent  will 
find  here  the  most  instructive  object-lesson  that  could 
be  desired.  The  Annates,  or  journal,  published  period- 
ically under  the  Director's  editorship,  contain  informa- 
tion of  a  high  scientific  value. 

There  is  one  question  connected  with  the  Belgian 
Congo  of  great  interest.  Can  it  be  made  a  White 
Man's  Colony  ?  For  the  greater  part  of  the  territory 
which  is  subtropical  the  idea  is  not  entertained,  but  in 
the  southern  provinces,  notably  Katanga,  the  condi- 
tions of  climate  and  surroundings  approximate  to 
those  of  Rhodesia.  Here  the  discoveries  of  great 
mineral  riches  provide  an  attraction  to  the  immigrant 


THE  COLONIAL  QUESTION  325 

that  does  not  exist  in  any  other  part  of  the  Belgian 
colony.  The  pioneers  of  the  mining  movement  have 
never  ceased  to  represent  that  Katanga  could  maintain 
a  large  white  resident  population,  but  the  Government 
has  been  obliged  to  proceed  with  great  circumspection, 
more  especially  because  there  is  one  undeniable  peril. 
This  is  the  presence  of  the  tse-tse  fly.  Even  the  parts 
of  Katanga  where  it  is  not  found  are  often  rendered 
inaccessible  by  being  environed  by  tse-tse  infected  dis- 
tricts through  which  cattle  could  not  pass.  The  Gov- 
ernment has  established  some  experimental  farms  in 
districts  immune  from  the  scourge,  and  has  lately  sent 
out  a  small  colony  composed  of  constabulary  to  form 
the  nucleus  of  a  white  settlement.  But  it  is  a  question 
that  can  only  be  settled  by  care  and  caution,  and  per- 
haps not  at  all  until  the  tse-tse  fly  has  been  extermi- 
nated or  cattle  successfully  inoculated  against  its  at 
present  deadly  sting. 

The  following  are  the  statistics  of  trade  for  1909 
and  the  previous  five  years.  This  table  shows  only  the 
"commerce  special/'  that  is  to  say,  exports  of  Congo 
produce  and  imports  for  use  or  consumption  in  the 
Congo.  There  is  in  addition  a  large  transit  trade, 
chiefly  to  the  French  Congo,  with  which  we  need  not 
trouble  the  reader. 

Year  Imports  Exports 

1904  $4,668,800  $10,378,200 

1905  4,015,000  10,606,400 

1906  4,295,600  11,655,600 

1907  5,036,400  11,779,000 

1908  5,317,200  8,674,400 

1909  4,425,398.80  11,233,400 


326  BELGIUM 

The  decline  in  the  exports  of  1908  was  due  to  the 
fall  in  the  market  value  of  rubber,  and  the  recovery 
in  1909  to  the  rise  in  price  to  its  old  figure  or  even 
higher.  Belgium  provided  or  took  herself  in  1909 
$2,101,338  of  the  imports  and  $10,417,139.80  of  the 
exports.  Taking  a  general  view  of  the  commercial 
situation  over  a  period  of  the  last  six  years,  the  prog- 
ress is  minute,  but  this  should  be  regarded  as  evidence 
not  of  the  limited  resources  of  the  Congo  colony,  but 
of  the  deliberate  purpose  of  the  Belgian  authorities 
under  both  regimes  to  proceed  with  great  care  and 
caution.  Those  who  have  studied  the  colonial  prob- 
lem in  Belgium  hold  the  opinion  that  the  success  so 
far  achieved  has  been  due  to  the  guiding  principles 
of  not  attempting  too  much.  Still  the  weak  points  in 
the  situation  remain  (1)  the  small  white  colony  all 
told,  (2)  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  revenue,  (3)  and 
the  apparent  non-expansion  of  trade. 

Under  the  new  conditions  created  by  the  cancel- 
ing of  the  charters  of  the  Concessionnaire  Companies, 
the  abolition  of  forced  labor,  and  the  substitution  of 
payment  in  money  instead  of  payment  in  goods  to 
the  blacks,  it  will  be  more  difficult  Lo  establish  an  equi- 
librium in  the  finances.  The  surest  way  of  doing  so 
is  to  multiply  the  resources  of  the  colony,  which  can 
only  be  accomplished  by  the  introduction  of  foreign 
capital  into  the  country.  The  Belgians,  whose  success 
up  to  the  present  has  been  far  greater  than  any  one 
could  have  ventured  to  predict  in  1884,  have  now  to 


THE  COLONIAL  QUESTION  327 

decide  whether  they  will  encourage  outside  co-opera- 
tion in  dealing  with  the  development  of  Central  Af- 
rica, or  continue  to  run  it  on  the  old  exclusive  lines. 
The  opening  of  the  several  zones  to  free  trade,  which 
will  be  completed  in  another  year,  is  an  indication  that 
co-operation  will  be  invited  and  no  longer  repelled. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 


CONCLUSION 


EIGHTY  years  have  elapsed  since  Belgium  be- 
came by  her  own  efforts  in  the  first  place,  and 
with  the  support  of  England  and  France  in  the  sec- 
ond, an  independent,  self-governing,  and  clearly  de- 
fined kingdom,  occupying  a  position  of  transcendant 
importance  for  all  concerned  in  the  maintenance  of 
the  balance  of  power  in  Western  Europe.  For  Eng- 
land in  particular  the  preservation  of  the  national 
integrity  of  the  Netherlands  is  a  vital  necessity.  Un- 
der no  circumstances  must  Belgium  and  Holland  be 
allowed  to  pass  into  the  hands  or  under  the  control 
of  Germany.  Antwerp  might  be  made  a  pistol  directed 
at  the  heart  of  England,  said  Napoleon,  and  if  this 
was  true  in  the  days  of  sailing  ships,  it  is  incalculably 
more  true  in  an  age  of  steam,  electricity,  and  aero- 
nautic achievement. 

In  those  eighty  years  Europe  has  greatly  changed, 
but  the  general  change  is  small  compared  to  that  in 
Belgium  herself.  The  Belgium  in  which  Leopold  I 
was  invited  to  rule  was  an  undeveloped  country  pos- 
sessing little  capital  and  inhabited  by  a  people  ren- 
dered so  cautious  by  long  and  bitter  experience  that 
they  might  be  described  as  timid.    It  made  its  national 

328 


CONCLUSION  329 

debut  under  the  protection  of  the  two  Western  Pow- 
ers, and  a  state  of  tutelage  is  not  the  one  most  calcu- 
lated to  develop  heroic  qualities  in  a  people.  But 
there  were  other  perils  to  national  progress  from  the 
agreement  of  the  Five  Great  Powers  (Italy  not  then 
having  been  born)  to  leave  Belgium  outside  the  range 
of  their  ambitions.  The  sense  of  being  protected  by 
the  solemn  pledge  of  Europe  might  have  bred  ease 
and  laziness.  The  citizens  of  the  new  State  might 
have  been  so  rejoiced  with  the  novelty  of  independence 
as  to  enjoy  the  present  in  oblivion  of  the  future.  They 
might  have  reveled  in  the  long  freedom  without  think- 
ing of  the  duty  and  difficulty  of  preserving  it.  For- 
eign guarantees  are  transient,  the  only  sure  bulwark 
of  the  existence  of  a  nation,  great  or  small,  is  its  own 
resolution  backed  up  by  careful  and  wise  preparations 
for  the  evil  day  of  peril  during  the  long  years  of  peace. 
This  reproach  cannot  be  addressed  to  the  Belgian 
people.  They  concentrated  their  attention  on  the  de- 
velopment of  their  little  country,  and  they  labored  with 
set  purpose  and  a  single  mind  to  place  it  in  the  van 
of  European  industrial  and  intellectual  progress.  At 
first  the  movement  was  slow — too  slow  some  impetu- 
ous critics  observed — and  the  attention  and  efforts  of 
the  people  were  concentrated  at  home.  No  foreign 
adventure  would  have  tempted  the  generation  which 
died  out  with  the  first  king.  The  present  of  an  El 
Dorado  as  a  colony  would  have  been  rejected,  al- 
though a  few  enlightened  minds  were  beginning  to 


330  BELGIUM 

realize  that  some  day  or  other  the  country  would  need 
outlets  for  its  rapidly  increasing  population.  But  the 
development  of  Belgium  came  first.  Not  till  its  plains 
presented  an  unbroken  expanse  of  cultivation,  and  its 
workshops  and  factories  were  working  at  full  pressure 
did  Belgians  generally  begin  to  think  that  some  atten- 
tion should  be  paid  to  expansion  beyond  the  limits  of 
their  narrow  borders. 

•  By  that  time  Belgium  had  accumulated  no  incon- 
siderable amount  of  capital.  Her  financial  leaders 
took  their  place  in  the  influential  fraternity  which  con- 
trols the  money  markets  of  the  world  and  which  has 
been  designated  "la  haute  finance"  The  national  sav- 
ings were  invested  with  some  losses,  but  on  the  whole 
with  great  profits  in  South  America,  Russia,  and 
China  (to  mention  only  a  few  of  Belgium's  spheres 
of  interest).  The  growth  of  capital  led  to  closer  rela- 
tions with  Paris,  and  Brussels  has  become  almost  an 
agency  or  branch  of  the  French  metropolis  in  finan- 
cial matters.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  French  influ- 
ence in  Belgium  has  declined  (and  I  for  one  am  far 
from  denying  the  truth  of  the  assertion),  but  it  is 
supreme  in  the  circles  of  "la  haute  finance/' 

The  acquisition  and  accumulation  of  capital,  the 
participation  in  important  World  affairs  chiefly  in 
combination  with  France  and  Russia,  and  finally  the 
possession  of  a  great  colonial  territory,  which  has  ap- 
parently excited  the  envy  of  onlookers,  all  these  have 
produced  a  change  in  Belgian  character  and  ways  of 


CONCLUSION  331 

looking  at  things  that  is  not  generally  allowed  for. 
It  is  no  longer  safe  or  prudent  to  speak  of  the  Belgian 
nation  as  timid,  self-diffident,  and  afraid  to  accept 
responsibility.  It  would  be  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that 
they  have  become  a  trifle  venturesome,  a  little  over- 
bold, and  not  afraid  to  enter  into  competition  with 
the  great  ones  of  the  earth.  Perhaps  they  have  gone 
a  little  too  far  in  this  direction,  but  the  Government 
that  attempts  to  treat  them  de  haut  en  bos  will  soon 
find  itself  thwarted  in  its  designs  by  the  aroused  sense 
of  dignity  of  the  governing  classes  in  modern  Bel- 
gium. The  worst  consequence  of  the  assumption  that 
Belgium  has  stood  still  since  the  days  of  the  London 
Conference  is  that  there  are  always  other  Govern- 
ments ready  not  merely  to  flatter,  but  also  to  promise 
support  in  the  event  of  aggression.  The  confidence  of 
the  Belgian  Foreign  Office  in  itself  is  great  enough, 
but  it  is  renderd  infinitely  greater  by  the  conviction 
that  it  does  not  lack  friends,  and  the  most  serious  con- 
sequence of  all,  resulting  from  miscalculation  in  polit- 
ical effort,  and  from  wilful  blindness  to  the  magnificent 
progress  of  Belgium  in  all  the  essentials  of  prosperity 
and  stability,  is  that  it  is  driven  to  take  its  friends 
from  the  wrong  quarters. 

With  regard  to  the  home  politics  of  Belgium  a 
foreign  observer  must  be  careful  in  expressing  any 
sweeping  opinion.  Party  passion  runs  undeniably 
high,  and  the  gulf  separating  Catholic  and  Socialist 
is  very  wide  and  deep.    At  times  revolution  seems  in 


332  BELGIUM 

the  air,  and  with  revolution  would  come  such  a  change 
in  the  condition  of  things  in  the  country  that  it  might 
lose  its  integrity  and  independence.  But  many  Bel- 
gians who  speak  with  full  knowledge  and  authority 
warn  outsiders  from  forming  what  may  seem  logical 
conclusions  about  the  conflicts  of  Parties  in  their 
country.  They  admit  that  political  feuds  become  bit- 
ter, that  the  partisans  are  noisy — it  is  admittedly  a 
Belgian  characteristic — and  that  sometimes  violence 
seems  imminent;  but  they  add  these  Belgians  know 
just  when  to  stop.  They  will  draw  back  when  they 
see  peril  from  their  clamor  and  excess  to  the  national 
existence.  That  assurance  is  worth  bearing  in  mind, 
although  it  does  not  cover  all  the  possibilities  of  the 
situation.  It  meets  the  case  while  the  Catholic  party 
remains  in  office,  but  it  is  not  at  all  clear  what  would 
follow  from  the  advent  to  power  of  a  Liberal-Socialist 
ministry,  and  the  majority  now  behind  the  party  in 
power  is  very  small. 

Looking  beyond  the  question  of  party  contests  it  is 
probably  true  that  the  precautions  taken  against  a 
Socialist  upheaval,  with  which  the  Legislative  Cham- 
ber is  periodically  threatened,  have  been  sufficient  to 
assure  the  preservation  of  society,  and  no  doubt  the 
new  army  organization  will  also  contribute  to  the 
same  result.  But  at  the  same  time  there  is  almost  as 
much  danger  in  the  Catholic  party  retaining  a  monop- 
oly of  office  as  there  is  from  the  other  side  coming  in. 
The  Belgian  system  of  electing  representatives  is  one 


CONCLUSION  333 

of  the  fairest  that  has  been  devised  by  human  skill, 
but  its  merits  are  obscured  by  the  indisputable  result 
that  it  has  given  one  side  a  long  and  unbroken  lease 
of  power.  This  fact  alone  weakens  its  claims  to  per- 
fection and  strengthens  the  demand  for  the  change  to 
the  simple  procedure  of  "one  man  one  vote"  or  "uni- 
versal suffrage."  The  abolition  of  the  plural  vote  will 
be  a  serious  blow  to  Conservatism,  and  its  effects  will 
only  be  mitigated  by  extending  the  suffrage  to  women 
whenever  the  change  takes  place.  Even  on  the  Cath- 
olic side  of  the  Chamber  the  view  is  beginning  to  pre- 
vail that  in  the  next  political  crisis,  which  is  probably 
not  far  off,  the  plural  vote  in  its  present  form  will 
have  to  go. 

But  to  the  outsider  the  recent  developments  in  the 
Flemish  movement  seem  more  alarming  as  a  menace 
to  the  stability  of  Belgium  than  the  feuds  of  Catholic 
and  Socialist  deputies.  So  long  as  the  Flemish  de- 
mands were  confined  to  redress  of  their  own  griev- 
ances, and  to  the  establishment  of  their  own  position 
on  a  footing  of  equality  with  the  Walloons  there  was 
no  serious  objection  to  be  made,  but  all  this  was  gained 
half  a  century  ago  and  ratified  by  a  second  triumph 
twenty-five  years  later.  The  latest  efforts  of  the 
Flemish  party  are  offensive  and  not  merely  defensive. 
They  are  seemingly  bent  on  a  campaign  of  aggression 
into  Walloon  or  quasi- Walloon  territory,  the  reasons 
of  which  are  still  obscure.  And  this  forward  move- 
ment has  raised  a  volume  of  irritation  and  indignation 


334  BELGIUM 

among  the  Walloons  that  would  not  be  credited  by 
any  one  who  had  not  seen  a  meeting  of  French-speak- 
ing Belgians  discussing  the  latest  Flemish  demands. 

Whatever  the  advocates  of  minor  races  may  say 
to  the  contrary,  language  is  the  true  connecting  link 
of  a  realm,  and  the  attempt  to  revive  half  or  wholly 
dead  languages,  if  they  were  ever  anything  better  than 
dialects,  becomes  a  menace  to  the  State  in  proportion 
as  the  language  in  common  use  is  weakly  or  strongly 
established.  In  Belgium  there  are  the  two  languages 
which  have  hitherto  been  on  a  fairly  equal  footing  so 
far  as  numbers  were  concerned.  But  the  Flemings 
are  increasing  at  a  greater  rate  in  numbers  and  pros- 
perity than  the  Walloons,  and  the  swing  of  the  pen- 
dulum will  be  increasingly  in  their  favor.  They  are 
now  displaying  an  intention  to  make  the  most  of  this 
superiority  and  to  show  their  adversary  no  quarter. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Walloons  are  up  in  arms 
and  are  showing  resentment.  The  champions  of  Flem- 
ish, which  is  only  low  German,  and  which  in  the  course 
of  a  few  generations  might  be  converted  by  a  German 
Government  into  a  very  passable  high  German,  have 
now  embarked  on  an  undertaking  aiming  apparently 
at  absorbing  the  populous  parts  of  Belgium  hitherto 
included  in  Walloon  Belgium,  and  if  the  plain  brutal 
truth  must  be  told,  their  success  seems  far  from  im- 
possible. 

There  is  no  doubt  something  more  behind  the 
Flemish  movement  than  meets  the  eye.     If  it  is  only 


CONCLUSION  335 

a  party  move  to  increase  the  Conservative  forces  in  a 
country  where  the  disruptive  forces  of  Republicanism 
and  Socialism  are  in  active  operation,  the  stability  of 
the  kingdom  may  be  rather  increased  than  diminished 
by  it.  But  it  is  possible  that  there  is  another  and  more 
sinister  explanation.  German  statesmen  have  always 
carefully  watched  and  taken  the  greatest  interest  in 
the  Flemish  movement.  German  influence  has  long 
been  in  the  ascendant  in  Antwerp,  and  the  sympathetic 
attitude  of  the  Berlin  Cabinet  in  the  Congo  contro- 
versy has  not  failed  to  make  a  considerable  impression 
in  bureaucratic  circles  in  Brussels.  Belgian  ministers 
are  probably  not  aware  that  Prussia  expects  to  be  paid 
for  services  rendered  and  with  interest ;  but  as  no  de- 
mand has  yet  been  made  of  this  nature  the  grateful 
sense  remains  unalloyed.  The  Flemish  movement  is 
in  its  essence  an  anti-French  movement,  and  if  it  suc- 
ceeds in  weakening  French  influence  in  Belgium  it 
must  to  that  extent  promote  and  strengthen  the  inter- 
ests and  influence  of  Germany. 

There  are  two  reasons  for  the  outburst  of  an  anti- 
French  feeling  in  Belgium.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
new  religious  laws,  which  amount  to  a  persecution  of 
the  Church,  and  have  made  the  French  Government 
most  unpopular  among  the  true  Catholics  of  Flanders. 
Nobody  in  this  country  or  in  France  seems  to  realize 
the  new  sentiment  of  dislike  for  France  and  French 
ideas  that  has  sprung  up  in  Flanders  within  the  last 
ten  years.    The  dread  of  the  spread  of  French  influ- 


336  BELGIUM 

ence  was  always  a  sort  of  bugbear  in  Flanders ;  it  has 
now  given  place  to  aversion  and,  the  word  must  be 
written,  contempt. 

If  the  religious  question  has  moved  the  masses,  it 
is  political  considerations  that  sway  the  minds  of  those 
in  power.  There  is  a  "Republican  Party  in  Belgium. 
It  must  exist  and  take  itself  seriously  when  M.  Van- 
dervelde  shouts  the  fact  in  the  presence  of  his  King, 
but  a  Republic  could  only  exist  in  Belgium  as  a  kind 
of  satellite  of  that  of  France.  If  Belgian  Republicans 
look  to  France,  it  is  only  natural  that  those  Belgians 
who  are  not  Republicans  should  look  elsewhere,  and 
that  means  to  Germany.  The  situation  has  not  yet 
become  acute,  but  unless  the  feud  between  Flemings 
and  Walloons  can  be  arrested,  serious  consequences 
threatening  if  not  the  very  existence  of,  at  least  the 
present  order  of  things  in,  Belgium  must  follow  within 
no  remote  future. 

If  there  has  been  a  deeper  purpose  in  these  pages 
than  to  describe  a  country  and  people  among  whom  I 
have  lived  and  for  whom  I  have  the  highest  admira- 
tion and  regard,  it  is  to  do  what  may  be  done  by  indi- 
vidual effort  towards  drawing  the  attention  of  the 
British  public  to  the  affairs  of  Belgium  with  the  view 
of  increasing  mutual  sympathy.  The  national  alliance 
between  the  peoples  of  Flanders  and  England  is  the 
oldest  in  Europe.  There  are  no  two  people  more  alike. 
Their  most  cherished  institutions,  those  of  civic  lib- 
erty, are  the  same.     The  English  character  has  been 


CONCLUSION  337 

leavened  by  considerable  immigration  of  Flemish  set- 
tlers since  the  twelfth  century.  Clouds  have  arisen 
from  time  to  time  on  the  horizon  of  their  relations, 
but  they  have  cleared  away.  The  truest  of  Belgian 
patriots,  whether  he  be  Walloon  or  Fleming,  knows 
in  his  heart  of  hearts  that  England — apart  from  the 
efforts  of  himself  and  his  fellow-countrymen — is  the 
one  sure  bulwark  of  Belgium's  independence.  The 
appreciation  of  that  great  responsibility  should  on  both 
sides  of  the  Channel  stifle  criticism  and  promote 
regard. 


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